Thailand shooting: families mourn after gunman kills at least 37 at childcare centre in Nong Bua Lamphu

Devastated families in north-eastern Thailand have been mourning the victims killed by a sacked police officer in the nation’s deadliest shooting rampage.

At least 37 people have been killed and dozens wounded in the mass after a gunman opened fire at a childcare centre in the town of Nong Bua Lamphu early on Thursday afternoon (6 October).

At least 24 of the victims shot or stabbed to death in the small town of Uthai Sawan were children.

A stream of people, including Prime Minster Prayuth Chan-ocha, senior government officials and relatives, have left flowers at the day care centre following the attack.

By the afternoon, bouquets of white roses and carnations lined the wall outside the centre, along with five tiny juice boxes, bags of corn chips and a stuffed animal, while a faded Thai flag flew at half-mast above.

Seksan Sriraj, 28, whose pregnant wife was a teacher at the centre and was due to give birth this month, said: “I cried until I had no more tears coming out of my eyes. They are running through my heart.

“My wife and my child have gone to a peaceful place. I am alive and will have to live. If I can’t go on, my wife and my child will be worried about me, and they won’t be reborn in the next life. That’s about it.”

Seven of the 10 people who were wounded were being treated in hospital on Friday. Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida were expected to visit two hospitals treating the wounded, and Prime Minster Prayuth Chan-ocha was expected to visit the nursery and the hospitals. A vigil was planned in a central Bangkok park.

What happened?

The attack began when a man armed with a gun and a knife stormed into the childcare facility in Nong Bua Lamphu province, and opened fire at the centre after forcing his way in at around lunchtime, according to the Bangkok Post.

Witnesses said the attacker got out of a car and shot a man and child in front of the building before walking toward the classroom. Teachers at the child care centre locked the glass front door but the gunman shot and kicked his way through it.

District official Jidapa Boonsom said he then forced his way into a locked room where children were sleeping wielding a knife. The children, mainly two and three-year-olds, had been taking an afternoon nap.

Twenty-two children and two adults were killed in the building, including a teacher who was eight months pregnant, before the assailant fled, according to a police statement.

The assailant continued to shoot people from his car, police Major General Paisal Luesomboon told the Associated Press. Officers said he killed another two children and nine adults outside the childcare centre. After fleeing the scene he drove home where he killed his wife and child and took his own life, police said.

Videos posted on social media showed emergency services at the scene and sheets covering what appeared to be the bodies of children at the centre.

Photos and videos of the daycare centre posted online showed emergency services at the scene and sheets covering what appeared to be the bodies of children at the centre. Footage showed the floor of one room smeared with blood and sleeping mats scattered about.

In videos from the scene in the town of Nongbua Lamphu, frantic family members could be heard weeping outside the building. Ambulances stood by as police and medical workers walked around.

Where is Nong Bua Lamphu?

Nong Bua Lamphu is capital of Nong Bua Lamphu Province in the north of Thailand. The town of around 20,000 is located approximately 45 kilometres south-west of the city of Udon Thani and is one of the country’s poorest regions.

Who was the gunman?

The gunman has been identified as 34-year-old former police officer Panya Kamrab. Mr Kamrab was a former police sergeant who was fired earlier this year because of a drug charge involving methamphetamine. He had been due to appear in court on Friday.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has expressed his deepest condolences to the victims’ families and described the shooting as a “shocking” event. In a Facebook post, he wrote: “My deepest condolences to the bereaved and injured families.”

How common are mass shootings in Thailand?

The shooting took place in Na Klang district in the northeastern province of Nong Bua Lamphu. Firearms-related deaths in Thailand are much lower than in countries like the United States and Brazil, but higher than in countries like Japan and Singapore that have strict gun control laws.

The rate of firearms-related deaths in 2019 was about four per 100,000, compared with about 11 per 100,000 in the US and nearly 23 per 100,000 in Brazil.

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

The country’s previous worst mass shooting involved a disgruntled soldier who opened fire in and around a mall in the north-eastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima in 2020, killing 29 people and holding off security forces for some 16 hours before eventually being killed by them.