A fired police officer who was facing drug charges slaughtered at least 38 people, including at least two dozen children, in a shocking rampage Thursday at a Thailand daycare center before killing himself amid a frantic manhunt, officials said.
Thai media outlet Khaosod Online reported that the gunman stormed the facility in the Na Klang district of Nong Bua Lamphu province just after noon and opened fire, then stabbed multiple people before fleeing in a white pickup truck. Victims were reportedly as young as two years old.
“I would like to express my deepest condolences to the families of the lost and injured,” Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said in a statement posted on Facebook. “I have ordered the commander. Police On the ground for immediate legal action and all involved parties to intervene to provide immediate recovery to all affected people.”
Gunman in Thailand nursery attack has killed himself, local media reports
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A government spokesperson told Bloomberg that 24 of the dead were children. Two teachers and a police officer were also reportedly among those killed.
The suspect, identified in reports as 34-year-old police officer who was recently fired, the BBC reported. Khaosod Online reported that the gunman fled in a white pickup truck and police issued a wanted poster showing the suspect’s photo before finding him dead by his own hand.
Some 22 children and two adults were killed inside the building, police said. But the suspect continued to shoot people as he fled the scene, police Maj. Gen. Paisal Luesomboon told The Associated Press. The suspect drove to his home, where he killed his wife and son and then himself, police said.
Photos and videos posted on social media showed rooms in the daycare center smeared with blood as horrified family members could be heard sobbing outside the building. Ambulances stood by as police and medical workers tended to victims. It was not known how many survived the attack.
Mass shootings are rare, but not unheard of in Thailand. In 2020, a disgruntled soldier went on a 16-hour shooting rampage that killed 29 people.