Tragedy in Thailand: Eight dead, including the fourteen-year-old attacker, in a school shooting
The author of the shots has also died and there are about thirty injured, nine in critical condition
At least eight people have died and more than thirty have been injured, nine of whom are in critical condition, after a fourteen-year-old student opened fire at his home this Friday and subsequently at his school, a center in the province of Nonthaburi, on the outskirts of Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. The victims are the attacker's two grandparents and five teachers from the institution, one of the most prestigious in the country. The assailant committed suicide after the attack. The toll is still provisional.
According to initial investigations, the teenager first killed his grandparents, with whom he lived since his parents separated. Subsequently, he went to the school with a 9 mm pistol, owned and registered by his grandfather, a former teacher. The police estimate that he fired 26 shots at the school and still had more than thirty bullets left when he took his own life.
The head of the national police, Kittiratt Phanphet, has assured that the shots were very precise and that several hit vital areas of the victims. The prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, has stated that the attack was "well prepared," with "clear steps and clear objectives." The investigation has already found downloads of shooting incident scenes on the boy's personal computer.
The attacker, who has not been publicly identified, was a third-year secondary student at the center. Some students have explained that they knew him and have described him as a boy with an interest in weapons and the FBI who had allegedly suffered school bullying. A first-year student told local media that she saw him walk from one classroom to another and that, when he reached her class, he shot the teacher who was at the entrance.
No signs of alarm
A close relative of the school's vice-principal, who died in the shooting, assured journalists that there had been "no warning signs" nor any problem with the young man's upbringing that could have aroused suspicion. "Everything was normal. There was nothing out of the ordinary," added the same witness.
The school, which has about 3,000 students, is a branch of the prestigious Debsirin School, founded in Bangkok in 1885 and with several centers across the country. Among its former students are diplomats, athletes, and several Thai prime ministers. During the assault, the police deployed a unit to the center and the authorities asked the public to stay away from the area and the students trapped in the building to hide until the arrival of rescue teams. Other schools in the same area have suspended classes and sent students home. Subsequently, the center has requested blood donations to treat the injured.
The tragedy once again puts the spotlight on the circulation of firearms in Thailand. The country has one of the highest rates of gun ownership among civilians in Southeast Asia – seven out of every ten people – and authorities estimate that about 40% of weapons are unregistered. Illegal possession can carry up to ten years in prison, but the enforcement of regulations remains a problem. In February, a teacher was killed and a student was injured in another shooting at a school in Hat Yai, in the south of the country.