Thai school shooter killed grandparents before attack, police say UPDATED

A Thai student who carried out a deadly shooting at a school first killed his grandparents at their home before launching the attack, Reuters reported, citing police.

Authorities said the suspect fired 26 rounds during the shooting at the school, where the incident unfolded.

The school, which has more than 3,000 students and employs 147 teachers, became the scene of a major emergency response following the attack.

11:25

A 14-year-old Thai student killed at least six people before taking his own life in a shooting at a school outside Bangkok on Friday, August 7, police said, in what authorities described as the country’s deadliest mass killing since 2022.

The attack took place at Debsirin Nonthaburi School, located on the northwestern outskirts of the capital. Witnesses described scenes of panic as students fled the campus while emergency responders transported the wounded to hospitals. Teachers were seen embracing and crying as the situation unfolded.

Images circulated by emergency workers showed one victim lying on a stretcher outside an ambulance, while another was being treated by a medic at the scene.

Police said the teenager fired at least 26 rounds during the attack and was found carrying an additional 34 rounds of ammunition. The firearm used belonged to his grandfather, authorities said.

An 18-year-old student told Reuters he initially mistook the gunfire for other noises. "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."

Lieutenant General Trairong Phophan, a spokesperson for Thailand’s National Police, told Reuters that the suspected shooter was among seven people killed at the school. He added that at least 15 others were injured.

Authorities are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the attack.

9:14

At least one teacher was killed, and several others were wounded after a student opened fire at a secondary school in Thailand on Friday, August 7, authorities said.

Preliminary information indicated that two people were killed and 15 others injured, including one person in critical condition, according to a major rescue foundation.

“Officers are urgently evacuating students from the area,” the foundation said in a statement, cited by CNN.

The shooting occurred at Debsirin Nonthaburi School, a large secondary school with around 3,000 students, located along a busy highway in Bang Kruai district, Nonthaburi province, just north of Bangkok.

A senior provincial police official said the suspected gunman, identified as a student at the school, had taken his own life.

Authorities said the “situation is now under control.”

Among those injured were one teacher and three students, according to officials.

Video footage from the scene appeared to show students running out of the school building as staff members assisted in evacuating them. Emergency responders arrived with stretchers and transported the wounded, with images from the scene showing victims receiving medical attention outside ambulances.

Gun ownership in Thailand is relatively high compared with other countries in Southeast Asia. According to 2017 data from the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey, there were more than 10.3 million civilian-owned firearms in the country, equivalent to about 15 guns per 100 people.

Thailand has one of the highest rates of gun-related killings in Southeast Asia, ranking second after the Philippines, according to data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

The incident follows previous cases of gun violence in educational settings. In February, a teacher was killed and a student wounded in a school shooting in Hat Yai district in southern Thailand. In 2022, 36 people, including 24 children, were killed in a mass shooting at a childcare centre in the country’s northeast, one of the deadliest incidents of its kind.

By Tamilla Hasanova