Oct. 6 (UPI) — A disgruntled former police officer opened fire inside a childcare center in northeastern Thailand Thursday, killing at least 35 people, including nearly two dozen children, before shooting his family and taking his own life, authorities said.
The attack began around 12:30 p.m. in Nong Bua Lamphu province, more than 300 miles northeast of Bangkok, where police say 34-year-old Panya Kamrab committed the deadliest rampage in the country’s history.
At least another dozen people were wounded in the attack but survived.
The dead at the school included mostly preschoolers — among them 19 boys and three girls. At least two adults were also shot to death before Kamrab fled toward his home, opening fire on innocent bystanders along the way, police said.
After arriving at his house, Kamrab murdered his wife and child and then turned the gun on himself, according to deputy national police chief Lt. Gen. Torsak Sukwimol.
The assailant was fired from his job in June and was due to appear in court later this week on charges of methamphetamine possession.
The Central Investigation Bureau initially issued a wanted alert for Kamrab, who fled the scene in a white Toyota pickup truck.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha ordered government responders to the scene to provide immediate assistance to the wounded.
“According to the shocking incident reported in Hong Bua Lamphu this afternoon, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the families of the lost and injured,” the prime minister said in a statement.
Witnesses later said they locked the doors to the school when they first observed the suspect approaching with several weapons, but that he shot his way in.
One teacher was killed with “a child in her arms,” another witness told local news stations in the aftermath of the attack.
Thailand’s worst shooting rampage before Thursday’s attack happened in the city of Nakhon Ratchasima in 2020, when a soldier killed 29 people.
