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Debsirin Nonthaburi attack
A student opened fire at Debsirin Nonthaburi School in the Bang Kruai district of Nonthaburi Province north of Bangkok on Friday morning, killing at least six people including three teachers and three students, according to police spokesman Lieutenant General Trairong Phiwphan.
“At least six people were killed, three of them students and three teachers”
CNN en Español said the attacker, an adolescent between 14 and 15 years old, also died, while it was not clear whether he was shot by police or took his own life.
20Minutos reported that the Thai police identified the author as a student of the school and said the author killed six people before taking his own life.
The shooting left at least 15 people injured, with two of them in critical condition, and Thai PBS reported seven deaths including the suspect and 15 injured as preliminary figures were expected to vary.
Conflicting death counts
Accounts of the death toll diverged across outlets, with 20Minutos citing seven deaths including the suspected author, and CNN en Español describing at least six deaths including three teachers and three students.
France 24 reported Deputy Interior Minister Pol. Col. Polapong Sivasubchoy told Thai PBS that two students and two teachers were killed, and that the students’ injuries were not from direct gunshots but occurred while they were trying to escape.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters at the government complex in Bangkok, “This is an extremely horrific incident. It should never have happened. How could something like this occur in our country?”
CNN reported that Trairong confirmed the suspected attacker remains in critical condition and doctors are providing emergency treatment, even though early reports had cited police saying the suspected attacker had died.
Gun access and next steps
Thai police said the suspect used a pistol and the Interior Ministry was investigating how the student obtained it, while Reuters images described the suspect wearing a purple school uniform and carrying a black body-crossing bag with empty shell casings on the ground.
“the Interior Ministry is investigating how the student obtained it”
CNN reported Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau told CNN that “the situation is now under control,” and it said a photo provided to CNN by a Bangkok police official showed a single pistol and several rounds of ammunition scattered on the ground inside the school.
ABC said Thailand has an estimated around 10 million firearms in circulation, about one for every seven inhabitants, and it noted that previous promises to tighten gun laws had not prevented recurrent shootings.
In February, a teacher died and a student was injured in Hat Yai district, in southern Thailand, after a gunman opened fire at a school, and in 2022 a former police officer armed with a pistol and a knife killed 24 children and 12 adults at a daycare center in the northeast.
