An autopsy has concluded that the deputy chief of staff of the National Police’s Criminal Police Department, lieutenant colonel Seng Sovann, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Monday evening.
The National Police’s Scientific Department chief Muong Sothea said Sovann, 37, had shot himself in his temple with a non-police issued Glock pistol at 7pm in front of his home.
Sovann was said to have suffered from a chronic stomach illness for over a year, according to his family.
They said that Sovann had on numerous occasions said he could not tolerate the pain any longer and wanted to die. The family said he endured several failed attempts at treatment in Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand before taking his own life.
Seng Savoeun, the victim’s elder brother, said Sovann had asked his brother to pick him up from his home before the incident. When he arrived, Sovann was nowhere to be found inside the house, Savoeun said.
He discovered Sovann’s body slumped over and surrounded by a pool of blood in the backseat of his squad car parked in front of his Chbar Apov district home.
