At least four people—two students and two teachers—were killed in a high school shooting in Nonthaburi province just north of Bangkok on Friday. Fifteen other students were injured in the crush while fleeing the scene Thailand's Deputy Interior Minister Polapee Suwunchwee confirmed.
The suspected shooter identified as a teenage student at the Debsirin Nonthaburi School is also dead. Conflicting local media reports indicate he was either killed by responding police officers or died by suicide.
Authorities are currently investigating how the student obtained the handgun used in the assault. Images from the scene showed the suspect in a purple school uniform with a black bag surrounded by bullet casings. Following the incident panicked parents rushed to the school to collect their children bringing local traffic to a standstill.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul expressed profound shock at the violence. "It's such a terrible incident. It should never have happened" he told reporters in Bangkok.
This tragedy underscores Thailand’s ongoing struggle with gun violence. The nation has one of the highest firearm ownership rates in Southeast Asia with an estimated 10 million weapons in circulation—roughly one for every seven citizens.
Despite repeated government promises to tighten gun control laws deadly shootings remain a recurring issue. In February a teenager using a stolen police pistol fatally shot a school principal in southern Thailand. The country is still reeling from a 2022 massacre where an ex-policeman murdered 36 people including 24 children, at a rural nursery.
