Newsman: At least 24 children and 11 adults were killed Among 35 people in a mass shooting at a childcare center in Thailand. Nineteen boys, three girls and two adults were killed in the building before the assailant fled, according to a police statement. According to Thai media reports, the gunman also used knives in the attack. Twenty-two children and two adults were killed in the building before the assailant fled, according to a police statement. Police said a total of two children and 10 adults died outside the childcare center, including the suspect, his wife and his son.
The mass shooting took place at the Child Development Center in Nong Bua Lamphu province’s Uthaisawan Na Klang district, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.
“The prime minister has expressed his condolences on the shooting incident,” the statement read.
Authorities said, after shooting at a child care center the gunman then fled the scene, shooting from his car as he drove home, where he killed his wife and child before taking his own life, police said.
Authorities immediately launched a manhunt for the suspected shooter, later identified by Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) as a 34-year-old former policeman who had been involved in an ongoing court case for allegedly selling drugs.
The suspect had appeared in court in Nong Bua Lamphu province hours before “opening fire while the kids were sleeping,” according to Maj. Gen. Jirapob Puridet of the CIB.
The initial attack came at about 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, entered the childcare center in northeastern town of the Nongbua Lamphu, authorities said.
After the suspect fled, he continued to shoot from his car, hitting several people, police Maj. Gen. Paisal Luesomboon told The Associated Press.
Photos and videos posted online of the day care showed the floor of one room was smeared with blood and sleeping mats scattered about. Alphabet pictures and other colorful decorations adorned the walls.
In videos from the scene, frantic family members could be heard weeping outside the building. Ambulances stood by as police and medical workers walked around.
The country’s previous worst mass shooting involved a disgruntled soldier who opened fire in and around a mall in the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima in 2020, killing 29 people and holding off security forces for some 16 hours before eventually being killed by them.
