A 14-year-old teenager killed his grandparents before opening fire at a high school in Nonthaburi province on Friday, leaving at least six more people dead, according to national police. The suspect, who subsequently died during the incident, targeted Debsirin Nonthaburi School, located just outside Bangkok, killing three teachers and three students.
Police stated that the teen first shot his grandparents using his grandfather's handgun before proceeding to the high school. During the assault, the shooter fired at least 26 bullets and was later found with 34 more rounds, according to police reports cited by the Reuters news agency. The suspect's death remains under investigation, with conflicting reports on whether police officers shot and killed him or if he died by suicide.
The shooting triggered widespread panic, leaving 23 people injured. Deputy Interior Minister Polapee Suwunchwee told local broadcaster Thai PBS that 15 of the injured students weren't struck by gunfire but were hurt as they were trying to flee. Witnesses described scenes of terror as students scrambled to escape. Thongchai Thanakat, a motorcycle-taxi driver who has worked in the area for 20 years, was waiting to pick up passengers outside the school when he heard more than 10 gunshots and saw a stream of students rushing out. "Some of them weren't even wearing shoes," he told AFP. "I feel very bad for one student whose body I saw after he was shot right through his head. It was very emotional for me."
Inside the school, students hid in fear. Pawarisa Maylissa, a 12th grade student who hopes to attend medical school, described hearing loud gunshots from the floor directly above her class, adding that she could hear bullets hitting the floor. "I was afraid that I would die, and I was scared that I wouldn't be able to pursue my dreams," she said.
Another student, 17-year-old Purin Khumchoo, said the 14-year-old shooter was his junior and described him as a "troubled kid." Purin told AFP outside the school that his group of friends who knew the suspect said he was interested in the FBI and guns, and that he was bullied by many other students. "When I saw him aiming the gun at me, I thought he looked very professional, as if he had been trained for a long time," Purin added.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters outside the school that the suspect was "under stress" and had clearly planned the assault, citing police interrogations of the suspect's close friend. Later, at Bangkok's Government House, Anutin condemned the shooting, saying it "should never have happened." "It's such a terrible incident," he told reporters at Bangkok's Government House. "How could this happen in our country?" Anutin also stated he would discuss gun control with the country's police chief.
Meanwhile, Education Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong pledged to provide mental health assistance to students and ramp up security measures at educational institutions. "We haven't checked whether students have brought weapons to school. Our level of security is not that tight," he told reporters at the school.
Following the attack, dozens of emergency responders and police cordoned off the school as emotional parents waited to retrieve their children. An AFP journalist saw a dozen mental health workers arriving at the school, where traffic was nearly at a standstill. Photos from the scene depicted the suspect wearing a purple school uniform and carrying a black cross-body bag, with bullet casings scattered on the ground.
Gun violence remains a persistent issue in Thailand, which has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the region, with an estimated 10 million firearms in circulation—one for every seven inhabitants. Past promises of tightened gun laws haven't prevented repeated shootings.
In February, Thai police shot and arrested a teenager who opened fire at a school in the south of the country, killing the principal and wounding two students. The teen had used a police officer's weapon. A local police chief said at the time that the suspect was hospitalized for psychiatric treatment in December and had been discharged. The teen stabbed a police officer with a knife and stole his weapon—a 9mm pistol—just before the incident, then used it to carry out the attack.
In 2022, an ex-policeman armed with a gun and knife stormed into a nursery in the country's north and murdered 24 children and 12 adults in one of Thailand's deadliest massacres.
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