Thai student in US shot dead

BANGKOK, January 31 (TNA) - A Thai scholar student in the United States has been shot dead, believed to be by her boyfriend who later committed suicide. Thai Foreign Ministry Spokesman Sek Wannamethee), who is also Director-General of the ministry's Department of Information, told journalists on Saturday he received a report from the US Embassy in Bangkok on Friday that it was informed by police in Pittsburgh, the US Pennsylvania State, that two persons were found shot dead in an apartment there, one is a Thai student, and local police initially believed that it was a murder case. Sek said the female Thai victim was identified as 26-year-old Chalalai Chaihirankarn, who was a Mahidol scholar studying computer science for a doctorate degree at Carnegie Mellon University, while her 29-year-old boyfriend was half Thai and half American. According to the spokesman, the murder was believed to have caused by jealousy. Thailand’s Office of the Civil Service Commission in Washington has already, meanwhile, contacted the Thai victim's relatives, as well as Mahidol University in Bangkok and the Thai Consulate in New York so that the death certificate will be issued, while her body will be soon sent back to Thailand. (TNA)