On Thursday, a former police officer invaded a nursery in northeast Thailand armed with a rifle and a knife, murdering at least 30 people, including children, before killing himself and his family, according to authorities.
At around 12:30 p.m. (0530 GMT), the assailant, who was carrying a shotgun, a handgun, and a knife, started shooting at the daycare facility in Nong Bua Lam Phu province before driving away, according to the police.
At least 30 people have died as a result of the shooting, according to Anucha Burapachaisri, a spokesperson for the Thai prime minister’s office.
Panya Khamrab, a police lieutenant colonel who was allegedly fired from the force last year for drug addiction, was identified as the shooter by police colonel Jakkapat Vijitraithaya of the province where the incident took place.
23 toddlers and preschoolers were among the fatalities, according to Jakkapat.
Less than a month before to the mass murder, a serving army officer shot and killed two of his coworkers at a military training facility in Bangkok.
Despite the high incidence of gun ownership in Thailand, major shootings are exceedingly uncommon.
However, the Bangkok Post reports that there have been at least two further instances of serving troops shooting and killing people.
A soldier also killed 29 people in a 17-hour rampage in 2020, one of the bloodiest episodes in recent years in the nation, and injured dozens more before being killed by commandos.
The military’s top brass made a concerted effort to portray the assassin as a wayward soldier despite the fact that the mass killing was connected to a financial dispute between the gunman, Sergeant-Major Jakrapanth Thomma, and a senior officer.
