14-Year-Old Kills Eight People in Thailand
Police reveal the boy learned to handle firearms on social media and watched violent content. The government announces new security protocols in schools.
Police reveal the boy learned to handle firearms on social media and watched violent content. The government announces new security protocols in schools.
On Friday, a teenager carried out an attack at a school in a Bangkok suburb that resulted in deaths, after having killed his grandparents at their home. The attack left a total of eight people dead, including the perpetrator himself, and more than 20 people injured, police reported on Sunday.
Deputy Provincial Police Commissioner Atthapol Anusit told reporters that the 14-year-old had studied how to use firearms on social media. "According to witness statements, the perpetrator had shown an interest in studying the use of firearms for some time, approximately one to two years," Anusit said.
Police have so far interviewed 17 witnesses. A knife was found in the boy's bag, and among the evidence from the crime scene are firearms, shell casings, and a personal computer. "After examining the computer, it was determined that the boy had watched violent content on social media," Anusit added, but he stressed that there is no evidence that he practiced shooting at a firing range.
According to police information, last year a teacher confiscated a BB gun, a type of air gun, that the boy had brought to school. After his parents' divorce, the boy spent 12 years living with his grandparents. His grandmother was a teacher, and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said she "may have been strict" with her grandson.
The boy's mother, who gave an anonymous statement to Reuters, said she had not noticed any signs of problems. "He was a bright and cheerful person. He behaved normally," she said. She also said she had asked him if he had ever been a victim of bullying. "He always said no and that nothing unusual was happening."
She said she last saw the boy during a recent school holiday. "On the day it happened, I didn't know he had done it," she said. As soon as she heard about the shooting, she sent him messages and tried to call him. "I just wrote to him to get in touch if something was wrong and that I was worried, that was all."
On Sunday, dozens of people dressed in black gathered at a Buddhist temple in Nonthaburi province for the funeral of a 12-year-old girl who was wounded during the shooting and died two days later. "She was a good child. A child who loved to participate in all activities," her music teacher told AFP.
The Ministry of Education has announced a plan to establish new security measures within three months. These measures will include mental health evaluations, a mechanism for referring at-risk individuals to specialists, emergency simulations, an anti-bullying initiative, and enhanced checks to prevent dangerous items from being brought into school premises. This incident, the most serious of its kind in Thailand since 2022, has sparked a new wave of debate over gun regulation in a country that stands out for having the highest number of privately owned firearms in the Southeast Asian region.
