Ex-cop kills children in rare Thai mass shooting
STORY: A former policeman killed dozens of people including more than 20 children in a knife and gun rampage at a daycare center in Thailand on Thursday (October 6), police said.
Mass shootings in Thailand are extremely rare.
He went home to shoot dead his wife and child then turned the weapon on himself, police said.
They said the attacker was dismissed from the force last year over drug allegations.
He faced trial and was in court on drugs charges hours before the shooting, a police spokesperson told a local broadcaster.
Adding that the shooter went to collect his child from the daycare center but opened fire when he didn't find them there.
Witnesses told police the gunman also wielded a knife in the attack in Uthai Sawan, more than 300 miles northeast of Bangkok.
About 30 children were at the center, fewer than usual because of heavy rain, a district official told Reuters.
Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha tweeted that the incident was 'shocking'.
In 2020, a soldier, angry over a property deal gone sour, killed at least 29 people in a rampage across four locations, including this shopping mall.
Gun laws are strict in Thailand.
But ownership is high for the region, with many illegal weapons brought in from strife-torn neighbors.
