Nursery children among 38 killed in Thailand’s worst ever massacre
At least 38 people were killed in a massacre at a daycare centre in northeastern Thailand.
The victims included at least 24 pre-school children, with toddlers as young as two among the dead, police said.
Among the other victims at the nursery in the town of Nong Bua Lamphu were at least two staff and one district official. One of the victims was a teacher who was eight months pregnant.
Another 12 people were injured.
Initial reports claimed that it was a mass shooting, carried out by a former police officer, named as 34-year-old former police officer Panya Kamrap. Later, investigators also said that the suspect “mainly used a knife” to kill his young victims.
After the attack on the nursery Kamrap returned home, killed his wife and own child before killing himself, said officers.
It was the deadliest rampage in Thailand’s history.
The tragedy took place around 12.30pm local time. A witness said staff at the day care locked the door when they saw the assailant approaching with a gun, but he forced his way into the nursery by shooting his way in.
“The teacher who died, she had a child in her arms,” an unnamed witness told Thailand’s Kom Chad Luek television at the scene.
“I didn’t think he would kill children, but he shot at the door and shot right through it.”
A video taken by emergency services arriving at the scene of the single-story centre showed rescuers rushing in to the building past a shattered glass front door, with drops of blood visible on the ground.
In footage posted online after the attack, frantic family members could be heard weeping outside the building, and one image showed the floor of a room smeared with blood where sleeping mats were scattered.
Videos and photos posted on social media showedweeping parents huddled together as they anxiously waited for news.
District official Jidapa Boonsom said that at the first sound of gunshots, “people thought it was fireworks”.
Prior to carrying out his attack, Kamrap attended a court hearing on a drugs charge, Paisan Luesomboon, a police spokesperson, told ThaiPBS television,
He added that he was fired from the force earlier this year because of drug-related offences.
In a Facebook posting, Thai police chief Gen. Dumrongsak Kittiprapas said the assailant’s case involved methamphetamine possession.
Local police chief Damrongsak Kittiprapha told reporters that the suspect was a sergeant on the force before he was fired, and that he used a 9mm pistol that he had bought legally himself.
“We are still investigating all of this and have to learn from it,” he said. “Today is the first day and we don’t have all the details.”
After the court appearance Kamrap went to the nursery where witnesses claimed he appeared agitated after discovering his child was not there.
Police said he was armed with a shotgun, a pistol and a knife, and fled the scene in a vehicle, shooting from his car, and driving into several people, major general Paisal Luesomboon told The Associated Press.
He then drove home. Earlier, police said he was last seen driving a white-four-door Toyota pick-up truck with Bangkok registration plates.
In a statement following the incident, Thailand’s prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha described the incident as shocking and urged all parties to assist in treating the wounded.
“The prime minister has expressed his condolences on the shooting incident which resulted in 30 deaths,” a government spokesperson said.
He plans to travel to the scene of the tragedy on Friday.
“This shouldn’t happen,” he said. “I feel deep sadness toward the victims and their relatives.”
The prime minister has also ordered Lt Gen Yanyong Wech-Osoth, commander in chief of the police, to fly to Nong Bua Lamphu to speed up the investigation.
