Thirty people, including a dozen children, were slain Thursday when a shooter stormed a daycare in Thailand and continued firing from his vehicle as he drove away, according to officials.
The incident deadliest mass shooting in Thai history, according to AP News.
After murdering his wife and kid, the attacker, who was an ex-police officer, then committed suicide.
Pictures and videos of the daycare facility shared online showed blood splattered over the floor of one room and sleeping mats lying about. Its walls were covered with bright interior decorations and images of the alphabet.
Cries of anguish could be heard from outside the building as family members filmed the scene on their phones. Police officers and medical personnel were walking around near the ambulances waiting to transport them.
At the scene, an eyewitness told Thailand's Kom Chad Leuk television that they had shut the door after seeing the perpetrator come with a weapon, only to have the gunman shoot right through.
The unidentified woman said that the teacher who got killed "had a child in her arms. She added that it never crossed her mind that the suspect would "murder children" when he fired at the door and "went through it."
The perpetrator entered the child care center in the northeastern Thai town of Nong Bua Lamphu at about midday, according to authorities.
The perpetrator killed 22 children and 2 adults before fleeing, authorities said.
Gunman Identified as Ex-Cop Involved with Drugs
Police Maj. Gen. Paisal Luesomboon told The Associated Press that the suspect resumed firing shots from his automobile.
He is alleged to have killed two other children and nine adults outside the daycare.
The suspect is former officer Panya Kamrap, 34. Paisal said in an interview with PPTV that drug-related violations led to his dismissal from the force earlier this year.
#กราดยิง #หนองบัวลำภู: Thai police reported shooting and casualties in Uthai Sawan subdistrict, Nong Bua Lam Phu province.
— Pichayada P. (@PichayadaCNA) October 6, 2022
Public urged to stay at home or in safe places. Assailant, believed to be armed, fled the scene in a vehicle. Police is searching for the person pic.twitter.com/XOBxZsZ9WA
According to the Royal Thai Police, as reported by The New York Times, Panya was discharged from the force after being caught with methamphetamine.
Maj. Gen. Jirapob Puridet of Thailand's Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), the suspect had been in court in the Nong Bua Lamphu province just hours before "opening fire" while the children were asleep."
The local police chief stated that the suspect's stepson, who is two years old, attended the facility that the suspect assaulted on Thursday.
Paisan said that the Thailand mass shooting culprit "went to look for his two-year-old son" but he was not able to find him. So the shooter opened fire and stabbed people at the nursery, as per a report from CNN.
Paisal stated he used a revolver, shotgun, and knife in the Thailand mass shooting.
The police said that when he reached home, the suspect killed his wife and child, and then took his own life.
The Prime Minister's Office Acting Spokesperson, Anucha Burachaisri, stated that Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has issued orders for government agencies to aid the injured.
Illegal Firearms a Problem in Thailand
Even while gun ownership rates are high in Thailand, mass shootings are extremely uncommon there, per BBC.
The Reuters news agency claims that the country in south-east Asia is plagued with illegal weaponry.
Less than a month before the nursery shooting, an army officer in Bangkok shot and killed two of his fellow officers.
In 2020, a soldier in the City of Nakhon Ratchasima killed 29 people and wounded hundreds more.
