More than 30 killed in child daycare centre shooting in Thailand

A former police officer stormed a child daycare centre in Thailand killing at least 34 people, most of them children, before killing himself and his family, Al Jazeera has reported.The attacker, armed with a shotgun, a pistol and a knife, opened fire on children and adults at centre in Nong Bua Lam Phu province at about 12:30 pm (0530 GMT) on Thursday before fleeing the scene in a pickup truck.

The dead include at least 23 children, said police colonel Jakkapat Vijitraithaya, from the province where the attack happened.The gunman forced his way into a locked room where children were sleeping at the time, according to an eyewitness.After the attack, the gunman went home and killed himself and his wife and child, Jakkapat said.

The gunman has been named as former police officer Panya Khamrab, 34, and Jakkapat said he was dismissed from the force last year for drug use.Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng, reporting from Bangkok, said emergency services were alerted at about 12:30pm (05:30am GMT) local time with reports of a disturbance at a daycare centre in the country’s northeast.

“We understand now there are more than 31 fatalities including a large number of children. A suspect was chased from the scene in a white pick-up truck,” Cheng said, adding that Thai media identified the suspect as a former Thai policeman who had been relieved of his duties.

‘Thought it was fireworks’

About 30 children were at the centre when the gunman entered at around lunchtime, district official Jidapa Boonsom said.

The man first shot four or five staff, including a teacher who was eight months pregnant, Jidapa said.

“At first people thought it was fireworks,” she added.

According to Thai media reports, the gunman also used knives in the attack and then fled the building.

Photographs showed at least two bodies on the floor of the centre covered in white sheets.

Eyewitness Paweena Purichan, 31, was riding her motorcycle to her shop when she encountered the fleeing Panya driving erratically.

“He intended to crash into others on the road,” she told. “The attacker rammed a motorbike and two people were injured. I sped off to get away from him.”

“There was blood everywhere.”

Killed his wife and child

Police spokesperson Paisan Luesomboon told broadcaster ThaiPBS the gunman had been at a court hearing in connection with a drug case earlier on Thursday and had gone to the daycare centre to find his own child, but the child was not there.

“He was already stressed and when he couldn’t find his child he was more stressed and started shooting,” Paisan said, adding that he had then driven home and killed his wife and child there before taking his own life.

Gun laws are strict in Thailand, where possession of an illegal firearm carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years, but ownership is high compared with some other countries in the region.

Mass shootings are rare in Thailand but in 2020, a soldier angry over a property deal killed at least 29 people and wounded 57 in a rampage that spanned four locations. Source: Al Jazeera