Thirty-four people were slain in a mass shooting at a daycare center in Thailand on Thursday by a former police officer who killed his wife and child before shooting himself, according to police.
The gunman allegedly started the fire in the town center of Nongbua Lamphu early in the afternoon. According to the Bangkok Post, the gunman was identified as former Pol Cpl Panya Khamrab, and he had firearms and knives as he made his way inside the center and opened fire.
According to a local police official, the victims of a mass shooting at a daycare center in Thailand included toddlers as young as two years old. The suspected gunman claimed the lives of 22 youngsters. According to district official Jidapa Boonsom, the gunman entered the center at about lunchtime and shot about 30 youngsters.
The gunman was discharged from the police force last year, according to Chakkraphat Wichitvaidya, superintendent of Na Klang police station. According to Jidapa, the man initially shot four or five members of staff, including a teacher who was eight months pregnant. “At first, many mistook it for fireworks,” she explained.
Social media videos showed blankets covering what appeared to be children’s bodies lying in pools of blood at the center in the town of Uthai Sawan, in the northeastern province of Nong Bua Lamphu. The clip could not be verified immediately by Reuters.
Earlier, police said a manhunt for the gunman was underway, and a government spokeswoman said the prime minister had summoned all agencies to find the perpetrator. Mass shootings are uncommon in Thailand, despite the fact that gun ownership is high in comparison to other countries in the region, and illicit firearms are popular.
In 2020, a soldier enraged by a failed property deal killed at least 29 people and injured 57 in a four-city rampage.
Continue to read more latest news
228 total views, 1 views today