Updated ,first published
Warning: This story contains graphic content.
Bang Kruai District: A teenage student killed at least five people and himself in a rare school shooting in Thailand after earlier killing his two grandparents, authorities say.
The five killed at the school were all teachers and staff, they said, and 23 people were injured, including students. Nine of the wounded were in a critical condition, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said.
Videos and photos shared on social media on Friday showed students from Debsirin Nonthaburi School, on the north-western outskirts of Bangkok, running from classrooms, sheltering beneath desks and climbing through windows to stand on ledges.
In one photo, a person can be seen lying on a stretcher outside an ambulance, while another is attended by a medic.
An 18-year-old student at the school said he initially thought the sound of gunfire was firecrackers or someone banging an object.
“I didn’t think it was a gun at first,” he said. “There were many shots: bang, bang, bang! Then it went quiet. Then it started again.”
Deputy Interior Minister Polapee Suwunchwee told reporters the shooter, who was 14 years old, killed his two grandparents at the home he shared with them before going to the school.
After the shooting, police went to his home and found both grandparents dead of apparent gunshot wounds, regional police Commander Wattana Yeejeen said.
The student waited until classes started and began shooting inside his classroom before walking out and firing more shots, Royal Thai Police spokesperson Trairong Piwpan said.
Piwpan said the gun was believed to have been taken from the grandfather. The shooter fired 26 rounds and another 34 rounds of ammunition were found at the scene, police said in a statement.
The prime minister, speaking after touring the school, said the student had shown signs of stress connected to school. The gun, described by police as small and compact, was legally registered to his grandfather, Anutin said.
Several family members, including the teenager’s uncle and sisters of the grandfather who were at the family home while police investigated, said he usually kept to himself and was a good student.
Emergency worker Kiatikhun Verapongpradith, 47, said he arrived at the scene during the shooting and his team treated students with injuries to the back, chest and arms.
They found a male teacher lying dead on an upper floor of the school, and in another room they found a female teacher with wounds in her chest and arm.
He said he was called to treat the teenage shooter after hearing a final shot.
“We rushed up and found that the perpetrator had shot himself in the right side of the head and collapsed. When we got up there, we checked his pulse, he still had one, so we started CPR,” he said.
The suspect was then taken to the hospital, he said, where he later died.
The school has about 3100 students and 147 teachers, according to district authorities.
The prime minister offered his condolences and said he would discuss gun control with the country’s police chief.
“This is terrible for something like this to happen,” Anutin told reporters. “I’m sad for those who died and sad for something like this to happen in our country.”
Gun ownership is common in Thailand, but school mass killings are not.
The tragedy on Friday has triggered memories of the 2022 massacre at a daycare facility in north-east Thailand in which a former police officer killed 36 people, including 24 children.
In 2020, a soldier stole weapons from a base and went on an hours-long rampage at a military camp and shopping mall in central Thailand, leaving almost 30 people dead.
In February, a teacher died and a student was injured in southern Thailand’s Hat Yai district after a gunman opened fire at a school.
Crisis support is available from Lifeline on 13 11 14.
With Reuters, Bloomberg, AP
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