More than 30, mostly children, dead in a mass shooting at Thai child care center

According to authorities, a former police officer attacked a child care center in Thailand with a gun and knife on Thursday. It claimed that at least 24 children were killed and 11 adults were injured. The assailant fled from the initial scene and shot from his car on his way home, killing his wife, child, and then taking his own life.

Online photos and videos of the daycare showed that one room had been covered in blood and there were sleeping mats scattered all over the place. Walls were decorated with alphabet pictures and other colorful decorations.

You can hear the frantic crying of family members outside the building in the videos. Ambulances stood watch as medical personnel and police walked around.

Authorities have identified the attacker as a former officer of the police and stated that he entered the child center at noon in Nongbua Lamphu, a northeastern Thai village.

According to a police report, 22 children and two adults were killed inside the building before the assailant fled. According to police Maj. Gen. Paisal Luesomboon, he continued to fire on people from his car.

Police said that he had killed his wife and son after returning home.

Police say he also killed two other children and nine adults at the child care center, including his son and wife.

Thailand has a lower rate of firearm-related deaths than countries like Brazil and the United States, but it is higher than countries like 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.

A clerk shot two of his co-workers at Thailand’s Army War College in Bangkok last month. He also injured another one before he was arrested.

The country's worst mass shooting occurred in 2020 when a disgruntled soldier opened fire around a Nakhon Ratchasima mall, killing 29 people. He also held off security forces for 16 hours before finally being killed by them.

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