At least 34 people lost their lives in the massacre that took place in a kindergarten in Thailand.
Police said the attacker – a former police officer armed with a rifle, pistol and knife – committed suicide and killed his own family after fleeing the scene in Nong Bua Lamphu province.
Among the victims of the massacre are 20 children, some of them two years old. At least 12 people were injured.
The attacker, identified as Panya Kamrab, opened fire and stabbed the victims before fleeing the scene in a white Toyota four-door pickup truck with Bangkok license plates, according to police.
The reason for the attack is not yet clear.
Police said the officer was fired last year for using drugs. And that she was nervous when she arrived at the nursery and found out that her son was not there.
Police spokesman Paisan Luesomboon said he later opened fire and crashed his car into a group of bystanders before returning home and killing his wife and son.
“The gunman hit lunchtime and first shot four or five nursery workers,” Jidapa Boonsom, a local official working nearby, told Reuters news agency.
He added that the gunman forcibly entered a locked room where the children were sleeping.
Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha described the attack as “a shocking event”.
According to the AFP news agency, a police officer in Nong Bua Lamphu province said 23 children were among the victims.
Police said Lieutenant Colonel Kamrab was fired last year for drug use.
While such massacres are rare in Thailand, gun ownership rates are relatively high for the region.
Illegal weapons are also common in the Southeast Asian country, according to the Reuters news agency.
The nursery attack came less than a month after an army officer killed two of his colleagues at a base in Bangkok.
In 2020, a soldier killed 29 people and injured dozens in the town of Nakhon Ratchasima.
– This text was published at https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-63158005.
source: Noticias
