A 14-year-old teenager, “disturbed” according to his classmates, killed his grandparents on Friday with his grandfather’s gun before killing five other victims in his high school near Bangkok, Thai police said.
After initially announcing eight deaths, the authorities adjusted their toll to seven: the two grandparents, two teachers and three members of the school administration.
The shooter, who then turned his weapon on himself, had “clearly planned” his attack, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on the spot, referring to a student “under pressure” at school.
More than 30 people were also injured, nine of whom are in serious condition, he said. “I heard many, many gunshots, very loud, because it seemed like the shooter was on the floor above. I could even hear the shell casings hitting the ground,” high school student Pawarisa Maylissa told AFP.
“I was afraid of dying and not being able to pursue my dreams,” she added in front of the Debsirin middle school, in the province of Nonthaburi, north of the capital.
Parents rushed there after the tragedy to collect their children while students and staff members, in tears, comforted each other outside.
“He was interested in weapons”
Photos published by local media show the suspect wearing a purple school uniform and a black shoulder bag, with numerous shell casings visible on the ground.
“He was a troubled child. My group of friends, who knew him, said he was interested in the FBI and weapons, and that he was harassed by many other students,” Purin Khumchoo, 17, told AFP after narrowly escaping the bullets.
“When I saw him pointing the gun at me, I thought he looked very professional, like he had been trained for a long time,” the young man added. Fifteen students were injured while trying to flee, Thai Deputy Interior Minister Polapee Suwunchwee told public broadcaster Thai PBS.
“I saw thousands of students rushing outside. Some didn’t even have shoes,” said Thongchai Thanakat, a motorcycle taxi driver, who has worked for around twenty years in front of the establishment of 3,000 students.
10 million guns
According to the Prime Minister, the pistol, legally registered, was kept in a house, but the shooter “managed to gain access to it one way or another”.
Anutin Charnvirakul had spoken earlier from government headquarters of a “terrible incident”, which “should never have happened”. “This is why the government does not authorize the possession of firearms,” he added.
Thailand, however, has one of the highest gun ownership rates in the region, with an estimated 10 million firearms in circulation, or one for every seven people. Political commitments to tougher gun laws have not prevented the recurrence of shootings.
A teenager opened fire in February in a school in the South, killing the principal of the establishment and injuring two students before being arrested by the police. In 2022, a former police officer armed with a pistol and a knife killed 24 children and 12 adults in a daycare in the north of the country.
