A 14-year-old boy killed his grandparents before opening fire at a school near Bangkok, where five people were shot dead and more than 30 others wounded, Thai police have said.
The suspected attacker later took his own life at Debsirin Nonthaburi school, north-west of the Thai capital, bringing the total number of dead to eight, including the teenager, according to police accounts of the incident.
Thailand’s health department said more than 30 people were injured in the attack and that nine were in a critical condition. Emergency workers reported treating pupils with injuries to the back, chest and arms.
Police said the suspected shooter used a gun belonging to his grandfather and fired at least 26 bullets. He was found with a further 34 rounds of ammunition.
The attack unfolded at about 10am during what teachers described as an ordinary school morning. Prompong Namwong, an English teacher at the school, told the Guardian that a frightened pupil from another class suddenly opened his classroom door while trying to find somewhere to hide.
In the corridor, he said, he heard other teachers shouting that there had been a mass shooting downstairs. He saw the 14-year-old run past his classroom and said he thought he was going to die.
The suspected attacker remained inside the school after initial reports of the shooting emerged, Arsit Sampantharat, the permanent secretary of the interior ministry, told PPTV. The lockdown was declared over after about half an hour.
Prompong said he feared the worst when he later heard a knock at the door, but it was police officers coming to rescue those sheltering inside.
Images from the scene showed pupils being evacuated from the school in socks, after fleeing classrooms without stopping to collect their shoes. As is customary in many schools across Asia, children had removed their footwear before entering classrooms. Shoes were later seen scattered around lunch tables and stairs outside classrooms.
Pichanan Thiengtham, an art teacher, said she was in the teachers’ lounge when she heard the shots. She said she initially struggled to believe the sound was gunfire because there were so many shots and they continued for a long time.
She said she realised what was happening only after seeing an injured pupil. “I took the injured student to get first aid and then transferred them to the hospital [in the school] building,” she said.
Kiatikhun Verapongpradith, an emergency worker, said his team arrived while the shooting was still taking place. He said they found a male teacher lying dead on an upper floor and a female teacher in another room with wounds to her chest and arm.
By the afternoon, the school’s sports area, normally used by pupils, was filled with officials and media as national leaders responded to the attack.
The prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, told reporters that a new law would allow only government officials on duty to carry guns. He did not give further details, including whether the proposed legislation would tighten ownership requirements more broadly.
The shooting has intensified scrutiny of gun control in Thailand, which has the highest rate of civilian gun ownership in south-east Asia. In 2017, the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey ranked the country 13th worldwide for small-gun possession.
Thailand has experienced several mass shootings in recent years, including attacks at schools and a major Bangkok shopping centre. In 2022, a former police officer killed 37 people, including 22 children, in an attack in the country’s north-east.
Piyaporn Tunneekul, an associate professor at Nakhon Pathom Rajabhat University, has said Thailand’s licensing system still lacks mental health screening for people applying to own a gun and does not require periodic reassessments for licence holders.
Debsirin Nonthaburi is part of the Debsirin school network, which was founded by the Thai royal family. Its alumni include prime ministers, scholars and writers.
Prompong said he later learned through the school’s group chat that some of his friends had not survived. “They’re all good teachers. I don’t know what to say,” he said.
He added: “My life has to go on, but right now … it’s a very great shock. I never thought to myself that it would happen – really happen – in my school.”
