A 14 year old student opened fire at a high school north of Bangkok on Friday, killing several teachers and students after allegedly killing his grandparents at home earlier that morning, police said.
The shooting occurred at Debsirin Nonthaburi School, a secondary school of about 3,000 students in the Bang Kruai district of Nonthaburi province, starting around 10 a.m. local time. Authorities said the suspect used a handgun believed to belong to his grandfather.
Officials gave conflicting casualty figures throughout the day, and those differences had not been fully reconciled as of the latest reports. Police spokesperson Lieutenant General Trairong Phiwphan said three teachers and three students were killed, while Deputy Interior Minister Polapee Suwunchwee said five teachers died. Injury counts also varied, with Trairong citing 15 people wounded and two in critical condition, while Thailand’s health minister put the number of injured at 22, with nine in critical condition, adding that some injuries stemmed from falls rather than gunfire.
What We Know So Far
Authorities said the suspect had been living with his grandparents rather than his parents, though it remained unclear how he gained access to the weapon. Police said his grandfather’s handgun and ammunition were found scattered inside the school.
Accounts also differed on the suspect’s condition following the shooting. Early reports indicated he died from a self inflicted gunshot wound, but Trairong later said he remained in critical condition and was receiving emergency treatment. A separate official statement said the shooter died at a hospital. An emergency worker told reporters he performed CPR on the suspect after finding him with a gunshot wound to the head and signs of life, prompting the medical team to transport him for treatment.
Video verified by news organizations showed students hiding under desks as gunfire sounded nearby, and others evacuating the building with help from staff. A witness said students sheltered inside a classroom listening to gunshots from another building until police arrived and cleared a path for them to leave. An 18 year old student said the first shots sounded like firecrackers before becoming more frequent, then paused briefly and resumed.
An unnamed rescue worker described chaotic scenes upon arrival, with responders treating students who had gunshot wounds to the back, chest and arms. Most of the casualties were teenagers between 12 and 17 years old, according to the provincial Emergency Operations Center, with the youngest victim reported to be 12.
Parents rushed to the school as news of the shooting spread, and ambulances continued moving in and out of the area for some time afterward. Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau said the situation was brought under control following the response.
What Authorities Are Saying
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul called the shooting horrible and said it should not have happened, offering condolences and directing officials to attend to victims and their families.
Trairong said the motive for the attack remained under investigation and that the weapon was believed to have been taken from a family member of the suspect.
Why This Matters
The shooting adds to a series of gun related attacks at Thai schools in recent years, raising renewed questions about firearm access and school safety in a country with comparatively high civilian gun ownership for the region. According to 2017 data from the Switzerland based Small Arms Survey, Thailand had more than 10.3 million civilian owned firearms, or roughly 15 guns per 100 people. Separate data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation ranks Thailand second in Southeast Asia for gun related homicides, behind the Philippines.
Friday’s attack follows a February incident in southern Thailand’s Hat Yai district in which a 17 year old took a gun from police and opened fire at a public high school, killing one person and injuring two others during a standoff that lasted about two hours. In 2022, a mass shooting at a childcare center in northeastern Thailand killed 36 people, 24 of them children, in what is considered the country’s deadliest attack of its kind. A 14 year old boy was also accused of a shooting at a major Bangkok shopping mall in 2023.
The recurrence of youth involved shootings, both as victims and as perpetrators, is likely to intensify public debate in Thailand over firearm storage practices within households and access controls for younger family members, given that the weapon in Friday’s attack was reportedly taken from within the suspect’s own family.
What Happens Next
Thai investigators are continuing to examine the shooter’s motive and how he obtained the firearm used in the attack. Authorities have not said when the discrepancies in official casualty figures might be resolved into a single confirmed count.
Officials are expected to continue coordinating medical care for the injured, several of whom remained in critical condition as of the latest reports, while the broader investigation into the shooting and the earlier killing of the suspect’s grandparents proceeds.
Reporting drawn from CNN and the Associated Press, citing Royal Thai Police spokesperson Trairong Phiwphan, Deputy Interior Minister Polapee Suwunchwee, Thailand’s Health Minister Pattana Promphat, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau.
