37 dead, mostly preschoolers, in Thai day care rampage

UTHAI SAWAN, Thailand (AP) — A former police officer facing a drug charge burst into a day care center Thursday in Thailand, killing dozens of preschoolers and teachers and then shooting more people as he fled. At least 36 people were slain in the deadliest rampage in the nation’s history.

After killing his wife and their child at home, the assailant took his own life.

Photos taken by first responders showed the school’s floor littered with the tiny bodies of children still on their blankets, where they had been taking an afternoon nap. Images showed blood pools and gunshots on their heads, as well as slashes to their faces.

Thai PBS was told by a teacher that the attacker got out of a car, shot a man outside while he was eating lunch, and then fired more shots. The teacher was able to run inside when the attacker stopped to reload.

“I ran to the back, the children were asleep,” said the young woman, who did not give her name, choking back her words. “The children were two or three years old.”

Another witness stated that the staff at the daycare center had locked the doors, but the gunman managed to get in through the door.

“The teacher who died, she had a child in her arms,” the witness, whose name wasn’t given, told Thailand’s Kom Chad Luek television. “I didn’t think he would kill children, but he shot at the door and shot right through it.”

Archayon Kraithong, a police spokesperson, said that at least 10 people were injured, six of them critically.

The attack took place in the rural town of Uthai Sawan in Thailand’s northeastern province of Nongbua Lamphu, one of the country’s poorest regions.

A video of the rescuers running into the building from the scene was captured by a first responder. It showed rescuers racing into the single-story building, past the front door that had been broken. Blood was visible on the ground at the entrance.

On footage uploaded online after the attack, you can hear the frantic crying of the victims' families outside the building. One image showed bloody floors and sleeping mats scattered throughout the room. Walls were decorated with pictures of the alphabet and other colorful decorations.

Panya Kamrap, a former police officer of 34 years, was identified as the attacker by police. In an interview with PPTV, Police Maj. Gen. Paisal Luesomboon stated that he was fired earlier this year from the force because of the drug charge.

A Thai police chief Gen. Dumrongsak kittiprapas posted on Facebook that the man, who was a sergeant in the past, was due to appear in court Friday for a hearing regarding the case involving methamphetamine. He speculated that he might have chosen the daycare center because it was near his home.

Dumrongsak earlier told reporters that the main weapon was a 9mm pistol, which he had bought himself. Paisal also claimed that he had a shotgun, as well as a knife.

Thailand Prime Minister Prayuth Cha-ocha told reporters that he planned to travel to the scene Friday to address initial reports that the former officer was suffering from personal problems.

“This shouldn’t happen,” he said. “I feel deep sadness toward the victims and their relatives.”

Although police have not provided a complete breakdown of the death tolls, they have stated that at least 22 children and two adults died at the daycare. Two more children were also killed in another area.

Several relatives of those who were killed in the attack were still present at the scene late into the evening. According to Thai TBS television, mental health workers tried to comfort them.

Thailand has a lower rate of firearm-related deaths than other countries like Brazil and the United States, but it is higher than Japan and Singapore which have strict gun control laws. In 2019, the rate of firearm-related deaths was 4 per 100,000, as compared to 11 per 100,000 in the U.S.A and almost 23 per 100,000 in Brazil.

Mass shootings are not common in Thailand, but they do happen. Thailand has one of Asia's highest civilian gun ownership rates, with 15.1 guns per 100 people, compared to 0.3 in Singapore or 0.25 in Japan. That’s still far lower than the U.S. rate of 120.5 per 100 people, according to a 2017 survey by Australia’s GunPolicy.org nonprofit organization.

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.

Another 60 people were also injured in the attack. The death toll was higher than that of the 2015 attack on civilians that killed 20 people at a Bangkok shrine. Human traffickers are believed to have carried it out in retaliation against a crackdown on their network.

Last month, a clerk shot co-workers at Thailand’s Army War College in Bangkok, killing two and wounding another before he was arrested.

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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of the TV station, Kom Chad Luek, not Kom Chad Leuk, and to correct the police chief’s name to Dumrongsak Kittiprapas, not Damrongsak Kittiprapha.

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Rising was reported from Bangkok. This report was contributed by Grant Peck, Elaine Kurtenbach, and Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul from the Associated Press.

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