Thailand School Shooting Leaves Eight Dead, Including 14-Year-Old Gunman

A 14-year-old student killed his grandparents before opening fire at a school near Bangkok, leaving five teachers and administrators dead and 23 people injured in Thailand’s deadliest mass shooting in several years.

A 14-year-old student carried out a deadly shooting spree in Thailand on Friday, killing his grandparents at their home before travelling to school with a handgun and opening fire, according to police. The attack left seven other people dead, including five school staff members, and injured 23 others before the teenager died after shooting himself.

The incident took place at Debsirin Nonthaburi School in Bang Kruai district, Nonthaburi province, just northwest of Bangkok. It is the country’s deadliest mass shooting since the horrific 2022 massacre in Nong Bua Lamphu, which claimed 37 victims, 24 of them children, in addition to the perpetrator.

Police said the teenager first shot and killed his grandparents at their two-storey home in Bang Bua Thong at around 5 a.m. on Friday. He then boarded the school van that arrived to collect him, carrying his grandfather’s legally registered handgun and ammunition.

The motive remains under investigation. Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said after visiting the school that the boy appeared to have been under considerable academic pressure, although authorities have stressed that the investigation is continuing and that no definitive motive has yet been established.

ATTACK AT THE SCHOOL

The teenager arrived at Debsirin Nonthaburi School, which has more than 3,000 students, and attended his first class before opening fire during his second lesson. Police said he initially targeted teachers and school staff before moving through the building.

Five school employees were killed in the attack. Twenty-three other people were injured, according to the latest reports, with some requiring hospital treatment.

Students and teachers fled classrooms as the shooting unfolded. Some took shelter beneath desks, while others escaped from the building. Emergency responders initially faced difficulties entering the school while police worked to establish that the gunman was no longer an active threat.

Police eventually located the teenager on the fourth floor of the school building. He had shot himself and was still alive when officers reached him. He was taken to hospital but died shortly afterwards. Police said he had fired at least 26 rounds and was carrying another 34 rounds of ammunition.

The attack brought the total number of fatalities to eight, including the teenager himself. The two grandparents were killed at the family home, while five teachers and school staff members died at the school.

Authorities have described the attack as deliberate and apparently planned. Police said the firearm belonged to the teenager’s grandfather, raising further questions about how a child was able to gain access to a legally owned weapon.

RENEWED QUESTIONS OVER GUN ACCESS

The shooting is likely to intensify Thailand’s longstanding debate over firearms and access to guns. Thailand has one of the highest rates of civilian firearm ownership in Asia, with both legally registered and illicit weapons circulating in the country.

Prime Minister Anutin said Friday that he would propose further restrictions on the carrying of firearms by members of the public, saying the government needed to do more to create a safer environment. He previously tightened gun regulations while serving as interior minister following earlier mass shootings.

The tragedy also comes only months after another shooting at a school in Hat Yai, southern Thailand, in February, in which a school director was killed and others were injured. That incident involved an 18-year-old suspect.

Thailand’s most devastating recent mass shooting occurred in October 2022, when a former police officer attacked a childcare centre and other locations in Nong Bua Lamphu province, killing 37 people, including 24 children, before taking his own life.

Friday’s attack is likely to prompt renewed scrutiny of firearm ownership, safe storage, access to weapons by minors, and the support available to young people experiencing severe stress. For now, however, authorities are focused on establishing precisely what led a 14-year-old boy to carry a gun from his home into a school and carry out an attack that has devastated two families and an entire school community.

The investigation remains ongoing, and authorities have not yet established a definitive motive.

Sources: Reuters; Associated Press.

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