A teenage student opened fire at a secondary school in Thailand on Friday, leaving four people dead before later dying, in what has become one of the country’s deadliest school shootings in recent years.
The attack occurred at Debsirin Nonthaburi School in Nonthaburi province, just north of Bangkok.
Deputy Interior Minister, Polapee Suwunchwee, said the victims included two students and two teachers.
Another 15 students sustained injuries, with officials saying most were hurt while attempting to escape the chaos rather than from gunfire.
Authorities confirmed the suspected gunman was a student of the school. While local media reported that the teenager later died, there were conflicting accounts over whether he was killed by police or died by suicide.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul described the shooting as a national tragedy.
“It’s such a terrible incident. It should never have happened. How could this happen in our country?” he told reporters.
Investigators said the suspect used a handgun during the attack. The Interior Ministry has launched an investigation to determine how the teenager gained access to the firearm.
Photographs circulated by local media showed the suspected shooter dressed in a school uniform with a black cross-body bag, while spent bullet casings were seen scattered across the school compound.
The incident caused severe traffic congestion around the school as worried parents hurried to pick up their children following the shooting.
The latest attack has renewed concerns over gun violence in Thailand, where an estimated 10 million firearms remain in circulation despite repeated government commitments to strengthen gun control measures.
Thailand has experienced a series of high-profile mass shootings in recent years. Among the deadliest was the 2022 nursery massacre in the country’s northeast, where a former police officer killed 36 people, including 24 children.
