Last month, a clerk shot co-workers at Thailand’s Army War College in Bangkok, killing two and wounding another before he was arrested.Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered the country’s law enforcement agencies to tighten gun ownership rules and crack down on drug use, as the country struggles to process last week’s mass killing in northeastern Thailand.Ī total of 36 people, including 24 small children, were killed in a knife and gun rampage by an ex-policeman who forced his way into a daycare center in Uthai Sawan in Nong Bua Lamphu Province, around 500 kilometers northeast of Bangkok. It was allegedly carried out by human traffickers in retaliation for a crackdown on their network. Its death toll surpassed that of the previously worst attack on civilians, a 2015 bombing at a shrine in Bangkok that killed 20 people. Nearly 60 others were wounded in that attack. The country’s previous worst mass shooting involved a disgruntled soldier who opened fire in and around a mall in the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima in 2020, killing 29 people and holding off security forces for some 16 hours before eventually being killed by them. rate of 120.5 per 100 people, according to a 2017 survey by Australia’s nonprofit organization.
Mass shootings are rare but not unheard of in Thailand, which has one of the highest civilian gun ownership rates in Asia, with 15.1 weapons per 100 population compared to only 0.3 in Singapore and 0.25 in Japan. The rate of firearms-related deaths in 2019 was about 4 per 100,000, compared with about 11 per 100,000 in the U.S. Mental health workers sat with them, trying to bring comfort, according to Thai TBS television.įirearm-related deaths in Thailand are much lower than in countries such as the United States and Brazil, but higher than in Japan and Singapore, which have strict gun-control laws. Some family members of those killed in the attack were still at the scene of the rampage late into the evening. At least two more children were killed elsewhere.
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Police have not given a full breakdown of the death toll, but they have said at least 22 children and two adults were killed at the daycare. “I feel deep sadness toward the victims and their relatives.”Įnjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Thailand Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who planned to travel to the scene on Friday, told reporters that initial reports were that the former officer was having personal problems. Paisal said he also had a shotgun and a knife. Dumrongsak Kittiprapas said the man, who had been a sergeant, was due in court Friday for a hearing in the case involving methamphetamine and speculated that he may have chosen the daycare center because it was close to his home.Įarlier, Dumrongsak told reporters that the main weapon used was a 9mm pistol that the man had purchased himself. In a Facebook posting, Thai police chief Gen. Paisal Luesomboon told PPTV in an interview that he was fired from the force earlier this year because of a drug charge. Police identified the suspect as 34-year-old former police officer Panya Kamrap. Pictures of the alphabet and other colorful decorations adorned the walls. One image showed the floor smeared with blood where sleeping mats were scattered around the room. In footage posted online after the attack, frantic family members could be heard weeping outside the building. A video taken by a first responder arriving at the scene showed rescuers rushing into the single-story building past a shattered glass front door, with drops of blood visible on the ground in the entryway.
At least 10 people were wounded, including six critically, police spokesman Archayon Kraithong said.
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