Thailand massacre: ex-cop kills 24 children in knife and gun rampage

NA KLANG, Thailand, Oct 6 (Reuters) – A former policeman killed 34 folks, together with 23 children, throughout a knife and gun rampage at a daycare centre in northeast Thailand on Thursday, police stated, earlier than later taking pictures useless his spouse and little one at house and turning his weapon on himself.

In one of many world’s worst little one demise tolls in a bloodbath by a single killer in latest historical past, a lot of the children who died on the daycare centre in Uthai Sawan, a city 500 km (310 miles) northeast of Bangkok, have been stabbed to demise, police stated.

The age vary of children on the daycare centre was from two to 5 years, an area official advised Reuters.

Police recognized the attacker as a former member of the drive who was dismissed from his publish final 12 months over drug allegations and he was going through trial on a medication cost.

The man had been in court docket earlier in the day and had then gone to the daycare centre to gather his little one, police spokesperson Paisal Luesomboon advised broadcaster ThaiPBS.

When he didn’t discover his little one there, he started the killing spree, Paisal stated. “He started shooting, slashing, killing children at the Uthai Sawan daycare centre,” Paisal stated.

“It’s a scene that nobody wants to see. From the first step when I went in, it felt harrowing,” Piyalak Kingkaew, an skilled emergency employee heading the primary responder staff, advised Reuters.

“We’ve been through it before, but this incident is most harrowing because they are little kids.”

A big van that police stated contained our bodies of twenty-two folks, largely children, was seen by Reuters departing from a police station headed in direction of the town of Udon Thani, 80 km (50 miles) away, the place autopsies could be carried out.

‘I BEGGED HIM FOR MERCY’

A Reuters photographer additionally noticed late on Thursday the physique of the shooter, Panya Khamrapm, being moved in a bodybag from a van to a police station in the province.

Photographs taken on the daycare centre by the rescue staff and shared with Reuters confirmed the tiny our bodies of these killed laid out on blankets. Abandoned juice packing containers have been scattered throughout the ground.

“He was heading towards me and I begged him for mercy, I didn’t know what to do,” one distraught lady advised ThaiPBS, preventing again tears.

“He didn’t say anything, he shot at the door while the kids were sleeping,” one other lady stated, changing into distraught.

Police stated the attacker’s weapon was a 9 mm pistol and it had been obtained legally.

Thailand’s police chief stated the perpetrator had tried to interrupt into the premises and had largely used a knife in the killings.

“Then he got out and started killing anyone he met along the way with a gun or the knife until he got home. We surrounded his house and then found that he committed suicide in his home,” Damrongsak Kittiprapas advised reporters.

He stated a couple of children had survived, with out giving particulars.

About 30 children have been on the facility – a pink, one-storey constructing surrounded by a garden and small palm timber – when the attacker arrived, fewer than normal, as heavy rain had saved many individuals away, stated district official Jidapa Boonsom, who was working in a close-by workplace on the time.

“The shooter came in around lunch time and shot four or five officials at the childcare centre first,” Jidapa advised Reuters.

The attacker compelled his approach right into a locked room the place the children have been sleeping, Jidapa stated. A trainer who was eight months pregnant was additionally amongst these stabbed to demise, she stated.

The bloodbath is among the many worst involving children killed by one individual. Anders Breivik killed 69 folks, largely youngsters, at a summer time camp in Norway in 2011, whereas the demise toll in different circumstances embody 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut in 2012, 16 at Dunblane in Scotland in 1996 and 19 at a college in Uvalde, Texas, this 12 months.

The Beslan faculty hostage disaster in Russia in 2004 noticed 186 children killed by a gaggle of hostage takers.

DRUGS CHARGE

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha was anticipated to go to the area on Friday. In a press release on Facebook, he referred to as Thursday’s rampage a “shocking incident”.

Prayuth ordered all authorities departments to fly the nationwide flag at half mast on Friday to mark a tragedy that “had caused grief to the entire nation”, his spokesperson Anusha Burapchaisri stated.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida will go to households of the victims in Udon Thani on Friday, based on an area announcement.

The authorities stated it will present monetary support to the households to assist cowl funeral bills and medical therapy.

The White House and the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres each expressed shock on the assault and despatched condolences to the victims’ households.

Gun legal guidelines are strict in Thailand, the place possession of an unlawful firearm carries a jail sentence of as much as 10 years. But possession is excessive in contrast with another international locations in Southeast Asia. Illegal weapons, many introduced in from strife-torn neighbouring international locations, are widespread.

(*24*)Mass shootings in Thailand stay uncommon, though in 2020, a soldier indignant over a property deal gone bitter killed no less than 29 folks and wounded 57 in a rampage that spanned 4 places.

Additional reporting by Poppy McPherson and Jiraporn Kuhakan in Na Klang, Orathai Sriring, Panarat Thepgumpanat, Chayut Setboonsarng and Juarwee Kittisilpa in Bangkok; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor, Robert Birsel and Raissa Kasolowsky; Editing by Kim Coghill, Clarence Fernandez, Mark Heinrich and Gareth Jones

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.