Boy, 14, shoots grandparents before killing at least six teachers and students in gun rampage at Bangkok school
The gunman also killed himself inside the Debsirin Nonthaburi School on the outskirts of Bangkok
A fourteen-year-old boy killed his grandparents before going to a school in Bangkok where he shot dead three pupils and three teachers in a handgun rampage.
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Emergency services rushed to the scene at Debsirin Nonthaburi School in the Bang Kruai district of Nonthaburi province, just north of Bangkok.
Thai Police spokesperson Trairong Phiwphan confirmed that six people died at the school. After carrying out the massacre the boy turned the gun on himself.
He also killed his grandparents at their home this morning, police said.
The attack started at around 10.40am local time on Friday inside the computer room of the building and according to local media, three pupils and three teachers are among the dead.
Armed units secured the school as students and staff trapped inside were being evacuated.
An 18-year-old student told the Reuters news agency that he initially thought there were firecrackers going off or someone banging an object.
He said: "I didn't think it was a gun at first. There were many shots, bang bang bang. Then it went quiet. Then it started again."
A rescuer at the scene recalled seeing the weapon with ammunition in the suspect's bag and described the scene as "total chaos".
He said: "I saw that he was using a 9mm and in his shoulder bag, there was a gun magazine and about 20-30 bullets.
"First when I arrived, it was total chaos as students that we received outside were also injured in the back, chest, and arms.
"We gave them first aid. Now, the student was still on a shooting rampage (at the time), we got up to the 6th floor and found a male teacher, he was lying on the ground, dead next to the balcony."
Another witness added: "After the student committed the shootings, the other students started evacuating.
"They were moving from one building to another, one in the back and some went to hide on the 4th floor. We were evaluating the amount of the weapon he had, so we could not rush inside.
"The police then took a team with shields up there and were closing in the area while the kid seemed like he wanted to flee but he hit a dead end."
One seventh-grade student who fled the building said that she was in her classroom when she saw the shooter walking from room to room.
She said that the gunman then shot the teacher, who was standing in front of her classroom.
Paying tribute to the victims, the country's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said: "This is really bad, it shouldn’t have happened.
"I don’t just feel sorry for the victims but I feel sorry that this happened. How can this happen in our country.
"This is why the government do not allow [citizens] to posses firearms."
Gun laws in Thailand allow people to purchase firearms in shops, and can be easily purchased on the black market.
In 2022, 38 people were killed in a mass shooting at a children's day care centre in Thailand carried out by an ex-police officer.
Also earlier this year, a school principal and a female student were shot by an 18-year-old gunman during a school siege in the south of the country.
Illegal possession of guns can lead to a sentence of up to a decade but the country still has one of the highest civilian gun ownership rate in South East Asia.
Thailand's opposition leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, of the People's Party, called for authorities to review the country's gun control measures.
He wrote: "Although the motive behind the attack remains unclear at this time, an act of violence in an educational institution, which should be one of the safest places in our society, serves as a stark reminder for Thai society to seriously and systematically review gun control measures."