Thai policeman arrested in killing of French man

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Bangkok (AP) — A policeman was arrested for allegedly shooting and killing a French man Wednesday at a shopping plaza in Bangkok.

Security video of the killing posted online by Thai media allegedly shows the officer in street clothes running after the French man and shooting him at close range in the chest. Thai media identified the slain man as Malik Djamel.

City police chief Lt.-Gen. Sutthipong Wongpin said Senior Sgt.-Maj. Kantapong Huadsri had confessed to killing the man over an argument involving a woman, but that the dispute was not a love triangle.

Police suspect the two men were involved in a fistfight before the shooting because Kantapong’s body had bruises that appeared to have been caused by physical violence.

Police Gen. Akkarawut Thaneerat, chief of the police station where the suspect worked, said he was involved several years ago in an incident in which he was pursuing a drug suspect who drove a taxi at him, and he responded by shooting and killing him.