Thailand children’s daycare mass shooting death toll rises to 35

An ex-police officer opened fire on a daycare center in Thailand, killing at least 35 people, most of them children. He then turned a weapon against his family and himself.

The attacker – armed with a shotgun, pistol and a knife – began the killing spree in Nong Bua Lam Phu province at about 12:30pm (05:30 GMT) on Thursday before fleeing the scene in a pick-up truck.

According to police Colonel Jakkapat VIjitraithaya, the victims included at least 23 children. According to a witness, the gunman entered a locked room where children were asleep at the time.

Jakkapat stated that the gunman fled home after the attack and killed his child and wife.

Panya Khamrab (34), was identified as the attacker. Jakkapat claimed that he was fired from the force last spring for using drugs.

Nanthicha Punum, acting head for the nursery, described the harrowing scenes when the attacker entered the building.

“There were some staff eating lunch outside the nursery and the attacker parked his car and shot four of them dead,” she said. “The shooter smashed down the door with his leg and then came inside and started slashing the children’s heads with a knife.”

Video shows the scene outside a children’s daycare centre in northeast Thailand where more than 30 people, including children, have been killed in a mass shooting.

Police say that the suspect fled the scene and then shot himself and his family. ⤵️

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Police said that the majority of the children who were at the Uthai Sawan daycare centre, which is located 500km (310 mi) northeast Bangkok, were stabbed to their deaths.

After the attack, footage showed distraught parents huddled in a shelter outside of the nursery, a single-storey yellow building set in a green garden.

Jidapa Boonsom, a district official, said that around 30 children were present at the centre at the time the gunman entered.

Jidapa stated that the man shot four to five employees at first, including a teacher eight months pregnant. “At first people thought it was fireworks… It’s really shocking. We were terrified and ran to hide when we realized it was a shooting. So many children got killed, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Photographs showed at most two bodies lying on the centre's floor, covered in white sheets.

Witness Paweena Purichan (31 years old) was riding her bike to her shop when she saw the fleeing attacker driving erratically. “He intended to crash into others on the road,” she said.

“The attacker rammed a motorbike and two people were injured. I ran to flee from him. There was blood everywhere.”

Paisan Luesomboon, a Thai PBS spokesperson, said that the gunman was at a Thai court hearing in connection to a drug case earlier in the day. He had also gone to the daycare to search for his child but the child wasn't there.

“He was already stressed and when he couldn’t find his child he was more stressed and started shooting,” Paisan said, adding he then drove home and killed his wife and child there before taking his own life.

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha ordered the national police chief to “fast-track an investigation” and said he would travel to the scene of the attack on Friday.

“This should not happen. This absolutely should not happen,” Prayut told reporters. “I am extremely sorry for those who were injured and lost [their loved ones].”

Thailand has strict gun laws. Possession of an illegal firearm can land you in prison for up to 10 years. However, ownership is much more common than in other countries in the region.

Mass shootings in Thailand are rare, but in 2020, a soldier who was angry about a property deal killed at most 29 people and injured 57 in a rampage that took place in four locations.