BANGKOK, Aug 10 — A former Thai MP has been arrested after allegedly forcing his way into a senior local government official’s office and shooting him dead in Nonthaburi this morning, days after the province was shaken by a deadly school massacre.

Chalong Riewraeng allegedly entered the office of Pol Col Thongchai Yenprasert, president of the Nonthaburi Provincial Administrative Organisation (PAO), in Muang district and fired several shots at him at about 11am, Bangkok Post reported.

Thongchai was given cardiopulmonary resuscitation at the scene before being rushed to Phranangklao Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Police said Chalong later telephoned Anchalee Paireerak, a television anchor with Naew Na, while she was in the middle of a ‘live’ broadcast and told her he had just fired about five shots at Thongchai, according to Bangkok Post.

Anchalee urged him to put down the weapon, remain calm and wait for police at the PAO offices while Naew Na staff contacted Rattanathibet police station.

During the call, Chalong allegedly told the anchor that he had decided to shoot Thongchai because the PAO president had refused to repay 11 million baht that Chalong claimed he was owed.

Police have not independently established the debt claim as the motive for the killing.

Chalong was arrested and taken to Rattanathibet police station.

He is a well-known political figure in Nonthaburi and previously served as an MP with the Thai Citizen Party before later joining Pheu Thai, according to Bangkok Post.

He contested the 2023 election under the Bhumjaithai Party banner but was defeated.

The killing comes just days after Nonthaburi was shaken by a mass shooting at Debsirin Nonthaburi School, where a 14-year-old student killed six people before turning the gun on himself.

Police said the teenager had earlier allegedly shot dead his grandparents at their home before travelling to the school.

The two shootings occurred about seven miles apart in Nonthaburi province, on the outskirts of Bangkok. Authorities have given no indication that the incidents are connected.

Friday’s school attack, Thailand’s worst mass killing in nearly four years, had already prompted heightened security in the province.