Deaths hit 36 in Thai day care rampage

Ex-lawman kills self after attack

In this image taken from video, a distraught woman is comforted outside the site of an attack at a daycare center, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, in the town of Nongbua Lamphu, north eastern Thailand. (Mungkorn Sriboonreung Rescue Group via AP)
In this image taken from video, a distraught woman is comforted outside the site of an attack at a daycare center, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, in the town of Nongbua Lamphu, north eastern Thailand. (Mungkorn Sriboonreung Rescue Group via AP)

UTHAI SAWAN, Thailand -- A former police officer facing a drug charge burst into a day care center Thursday in Thailand, killing dozens of preschoolers and teachers and then shooting more people as he fled. At least 36 people were slain in the deadliest rampage in the nation's history.

The assailant, who was fired earlier this year, took his own life after killing his wife and child at home.

Photos taken by first responders showed the school's floor littered with the tiny bodies of children still on their blankets, where they had been taking an afternoon nap. The images showed slashes to their faces and gunshots to their heads and pools of blood.

A teacher told public broadcaster Thai PBS that the assailant got out of a car and immediately shot a man eating lunch outside, then fired more shots. When the attacker paused to reload, the teacher had an opportunity to run inside.

"I ran to the back, the children were asleep," said the young woman, who did not give her name, choking back her words. "The children were 2 or 3 years old."

The attack took place in the rural town of Uthai Sawan in Thailand's northeastern province of Nongbua Lamphu, one of the country's poorest regions.

Another witness said staff at the day care center had locked the door, but the suspect shot his way in.

"The teacher who died, she had a child in her arms," the witness, whose name wasn't given, told Thailand's Kom Chad Luek television. "I didn't think he would kill children, but he shot at the door and shot right through it."

At least 10 people were wounded, including six critically, police spokesman Archayon Kraithong said.

A video taken by a first responder arriving at the scene showed rescuers rushing into the single-story building past a shattered glass front door, with drops of blood visible on the ground in the entryway.

In footage posted online after the attack, frantic family members could be heard weeping outside the building. One image showed the floor smeared with blood where sleeping mats were scattered around the room. Pictures of the alphabet and other colorful decorations adorned the walls.

Police identified the suspect as 34-year-old former police officer Panya Kamrap. Police Maj. Gen. Paisal Luesomboon told PPTV in an interview that he was fired from the force earlier this year because of the drug charge.

National Police Chief Damrongsak Kittiprapha told reporters he believed Panya was on drugs during the attack, without providing any evidence, and said the former policeman was due to appear in court today on drug-related charges.

According to Damrongsak, Panya barged into the day care center in the Na Klang district of Nong Bua Lamphu, where his son was enrolled, just before 1 p.m. He killed 24 people, nearly all of them young children, mostly with his knife, before fleeing in a white pickup. During his escape, he killed nine more people, running some over in his car.

The youngest victim was 2 years old, officials at the Na Klang district police station told The Washington Post.

Panya purchased his gun, a 9mm pistol, legally, Damrongsak added, but largely used the knife in his rampage at the child care center.

After fleeing the scene, he barricaded himself in his nearby home. Police surrounded the house, and Panya then killed his wife and son before killing himself.

Regional police spokesman Paisal Lauesomboon told the Thai Public Broadcasting Service that Panya had been in court earlier that day for a hearing on drug possession charges. Paisal said Panya then went looking for his son at the child care center and began his shooting and stabbing rampage when he didn't find him there.

Thailand Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who planned to travel to the scene today, told reporters that initial reports were that the former officer was having personal problems.

"This shouldn't happen," he said. "I feel deep sadness toward the victims and their relatives."

In a statement, the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok said it was "saddened by the tragic event in Nong Bua Lam Phu Province."

"We stand with the people of Thailand and offer our deepest condolences to the victims and their families," it added.

Police have not given a full breakdown of the death toll, but they have said at least 22 children and two adults were killed at the day care. At least two more children were killed elsewhere.

Some family members of those killed in the attack were still at the scene of the rampage late into the evening. Mental health workers sat with them, trying to bring comfort, according to Thai PBS television.

Soon after reports of the shooting in the Na Klang district first emerged, appeals for blood donations were posted on social media. People rushed to the nearby Nong Bua Lamphu district hospital, the Nation newspaper reported, and the hospital later said it had received enough blood to treat the wounded.

Firearm-related deaths in Thailand are much lower than in countries such as the United States and Brazil, but higher than in Japan and Singapore, which have strict gun-control laws. The rate of firearms-related deaths in 2019 was about 4 per 100,000, compared with about 11 per 100,000 in the U.S. and nearly 23 per 100,000 in Brazil.

Mass shootings are rare but not unheard of in Thailand, which has one of the highest civilian gun ownership rates in Asia, with 15.1 weapons per 100 population compared with only 0.3 in Singapore and 0.25 in Japan. That's still far lower than the U.S. rate of 120.5 per 100 people, according to a 2017 survey by Australia's GunPolicy.org nonprofit organization.

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.

Nearly 60 others were wounded in that attack. Its death toll surpassed that of the previously worst attack on civilians, a 2015 bombing at a shrine in Bangkok that killed 20 people. It was alleged to have been carried out by human traffickers in retaliation for a crackdown on their network.

Last month, a clerk shot co-workers at Thailand's Army War College in Bangkok, killing two and wounding another before he was arrested.

Information for this article was contributed by Tassanee Vejpongsa, David Rising, Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul, Elaine Kurtenbach and Grant Peck of The Associated Press and by Wilawan Watcharasakwej, Rebecca Tan and Annabelle Timsit of The Washington Post.

  photo  In this image taken from video, officials enter the site of an attack at a daycare center, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, in the town of Nongbua Lamphu, north eastern Thailand. More than 30 people, primarily children, were killed Thursday when a gunman opened fire the childcare center authorities said. (TPBS via AP)
 
 
  photo  In this image taken from video, a distraught woman is comforted outside the site of an attack at a daycare center, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, in the town of Nongbua Lamphu, north eastern Thailand. More than 30 people, primarily children, were killed Thursday when a gunman opened fire in the childcare center authorities said. (Mungkorn Sriboonreung Rescue Group via AP)
 
 
  photo  First responders attend to a victim at the site of an attack at a day care center, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, in the town of Nongbua Lamphu, north eastern Thailand. A former policeman facing a drug charge burst into a day care center in northeastern Thailand on Thursday, killing dozens of preschoolers and teachers before shooting more people as he fled in the deadliest rampage in the nation’s history. (Mungkorn Sriboonreung Rescue Group via AP)
 
 
  photo  In this image taken from video, a distraught woman is comforted outside the site of an attack at a daycare center, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, in the town of Nongbua Lamphu, north eastern Thailand. More than 30 people, primarily children, were killed Thursday when a gunman opened fire in the childcare center authorities said. (Mungkorn Sriboonreung Rescue Group via AP)
 
 
  photo  In this image taken from video, people gather outside the site of an attack at a daycare canter, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, in the town of Nongbua Lamphu, north eastern Thailand. More than 30 people, primarily children, were killed Thursday when a gunman opened fire in the childcare center authorities said. (TPBS via AP)
 
 
  photo  Residents line up to donate blood a the local hospital for victims of an attack at a daycare center, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, in the town of Nongbua Lamphu, north eastern Thailand. More than 30 people, primarily children, were killed Thursday when a gunman opened fire in the childcare center authorities said. (Warnwarn Ch via AP)
 
 
  photo  A resident donates blood a the local hospital for victims of an attack at a daycare center, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, in the town of Nongbua Lamphu, north eastern Thailand. More than 30 people, primarily children, were killed Thursday when a gunman opened fire in the childcare center authorities said. (Warnwarn Ch via AP)
 
 
  photo  Residents line up to donate blood a the local hospital for victims of an attack at a daycare center, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, in the town of Nongbua Lamphu, north eastern Thailand. More than 30 people, primarily children, were killed Thursday when a gunman opened fire in the childcare center authorities said. (Warnwarn Ch via AP)
 
 

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