More than 30 people were killed on Thursday, including two dozen children, according to authorities. The shooter opened fire on a child care center in Thailand before reloading his weapon and driving away.
In the history of the nation, it was the deadliest mass shooting. Before committing suicide, the attacker—a former police officer—killed his wife and child.
Online images and videos of the daycare showed sleeping mats strewn everywhere and the floor of one room covered in blood. The walls were decorated with bright pictures of the alphabet and other objects.
Videos showed distressed family members crying outside the structure. Police officers and medical professionals moved about as ambulances waited.
When they noticed the suspect approaching with a weapon, they closed the building’s door, but he shot through it, a witness at the scene told Thailand’s Kom Chad Leuk television.
The unnamed woman remarked, “The instructor who passed away, had a child in her arms.” “He shot at the door and shot right through it,” the witness said, “but I didn’t imagine he would murder kids.”
Authorities in the northeastern Thai town of Nongbua Lamphu said the attacker, a former police officer, entered the daycare center afternoon.
According to a police statement, the attacker killed 22 children and 2 adults inside the building before escaping. However, police Maj. Gen. Paisal Luesomboon told reporters that he kept shooting at people while driving.
Police identified the suspect as 34-year-old former police officer Panya Kamrap. Paisel said in an interview with PPTV that drug-related offenses caused his dismissal from the force earlier this year.
According to Paisel, the attacker employed many weapons, including a revolver, a shotgun, and a knife.
He killed his wife, child, and himself after getting home, according to the authorities.
Police reported that he also killed his wife and son outside the daycare center, along with two other kids and nine adults.
Thailand has a greater rate of firearm-related fatalities than nations with stricter gun control legislation, including Japan and Singapore, but considerably lower rates than nations like the US and Brazil. In 2019, there were almost 4 firearm-related deaths per 100,000 people, compared to nearly 23 per 100,000 in Brazil and about 11 per 100,000 in the United States.
At Thailand’s Army War College in Bangkok last month, a clerk opened fire on his coworkers, killing two and injuring another before being apprehended.
The previous worst mass shooting in the nation occurred in 2020 when a disgruntled soldier opened fire in and around a mall in the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima. He killed 29 people and managed to elude law enforcement for 16 hours before he was killed by them.
