At least seven people died on Friday when a 14-year-old student opened fire at a school in Nonthaburi province, near Bangkok. The boy killed five staff members at Debsirin Nonthaburi School and two grandparents who lived with him.
The shooting occurred at a school with more than three thousand students and over one hundred teachers, according to Channel News Asia. Police said the shooter used a firearm that belonged to his grandfather. The weapon was originally made to fire blanks but had been altered to shoot live rounds, according to a report from The Associated Press.
Emergency workers arrived while the shooting was still happening and treated students with injuries to their backs, chests, and arms. The shooter died from a gunshot wound to the head after collapsing at the scene. More than thirty people were injured, with around nine in critical condition.
The prime minister said the school had not checked whether students had brought weapons to class. He added that some students were even barefoot when they evacuated the building. The prime minister promised to introduce a new law to control firearms in the country.
Thailand has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in Asia, with an estimated 3 million firearms held by civilians. The nation has seen several violent incidents involving guns in recent years. In February, a 17-year-old stole a gun from police and shot at a school in southern Thailand. A gunman killed five people at a market in Bangkok in July before taking his own life.
In October 2023, another shooting happened inside a shopping mall in Bangkok where two people were killed. In 2022, a police sergeant who had lost his job killed thirty-seven people, including toddlers at a daycare center. He later returned home and killed his wife and stepson before ending his own life.
A soldier went on a rampage in 2020, killing nearly thirty people in the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima. In January 2020, a masked gunman killed three people in a gold shop robbery, including a two-year-old child. A school headmaster was later arrested and sentenced to death for the crime.
The prime minister said that this latest incident was deeply troubling. He noted that many people were worried about the presence of weapons among students. Some witnesses described hearing sounds like firecrackers before realizing they were gunshots, The Straits Times reported.
One woman said that the grandmother had taught her son and expressed concern about other children having access to guns. The prime minister’s announcement came after a wave of violence in recent years. Public safety officials are now reviewing school security policies and the prevalence of firearms in schools.
The incident has sparked debate over how to better protect students from such tragedies.
IMAGE: Daduschu at German Wikipedia (Original text: Daduschu) – Self-photographed Public Domain