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NEW DELHI: A day after a 14-year-old went on a shooting spree inside a popular mall in Thailand’s Bangkok and fatally killing 2 people, details have started emerging about the incident that shocked the tourist nation.
Chaos erupted late in the afternoon close to peak hours at the mall in Bangkok’s bustling commercial heart, with hundreds of panicked shoppers fleeing, some screaming as gunshots rang out. A Chinese and Myanmar national were killed and five people were wounded in the incident.
The teen shooter was later apprehended.
‘Psychological breakdown’
According to reports, the suspect had suffered a “psychological breakdown” in the run-up to the shooting at the luxury Siam Paragon shopping centre.
He had surrendered after police cornered him in a designer furniture shop.
Police said they were seeking to charge him with pre-meditated murder, attempted murder, possession of an illegal firearm and for using it in a public space.
“We still cannot get a statement out of him because the doctor said he had a psychological problem,” Major General Nakarin Sukhontawit told news agency Reuters.
‘Voice told him to shoot’
Investigators are currently looking into the teenager’s background and planned to speak to friends, including some online gamers, about his mental state.
He had turned 13 just last month.
“We will have to investigate the suspect as to whether he had violent and aggressive conduct before,” said Torsak, who met the boy soon after the shooting.
“Initially I spoke to him to calm him down … he appeared to hear someone speaking to him, he was hearing things, a noise he said told him to shoot,” he told media.
Rare gun violence shocks Thailand
Gun violence is rare in Thailand due to harsh firearm rules.
However, there have been incidents of mass shootings in the country in the past.
Notably, Tuesday’s violence came three days from the first anniversary of the death of 35 people, including 22 children at a nursery in a northeast Thai town, during an hours-long gun-and-knife attack by a former policeman who later shot himself dead.
In 2020, a soldier shot and killed at least 29 people and wounded 57 in a rampage that spanned four locations around the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Chaos erupted late in the afternoon close to peak hours at the mall in Bangkok’s bustling commercial heart, with hundreds of panicked shoppers fleeing, some screaming as gunshots rang out. A Chinese and Myanmar national were killed and five people were wounded in the incident.
The teen shooter was later apprehended.
‘Psychological breakdown’
According to reports, the suspect had suffered a “psychological breakdown” in the run-up to the shooting at the luxury Siam Paragon shopping centre.
He had surrendered after police cornered him in a designer furniture shop.
Police said they were seeking to charge him with pre-meditated murder, attempted murder, possession of an illegal firearm and for using it in a public space.
“We still cannot get a statement out of him because the doctor said he had a psychological problem,” Major General Nakarin Sukhontawit told news agency Reuters.
‘Voice told him to shoot’
Investigators are currently looking into the teenager’s background and planned to speak to friends, including some online gamers, about his mental state.
He had turned 13 just last month.
“We will have to investigate the suspect as to whether he had violent and aggressive conduct before,” said Torsak, who met the boy soon after the shooting.
“Initially I spoke to him to calm him down … he appeared to hear someone speaking to him, he was hearing things, a noise he said told him to shoot,” he told media.
Rare gun violence shocks Thailand
Gun violence is rare in Thailand due to harsh firearm rules.
However, there have been incidents of mass shootings in the country in the past.
Notably, Tuesday’s violence came three days from the first anniversary of the death of 35 people, including 22 children at a nursery in a northeast Thai town, during an hours-long gun-and-knife attack by a former policeman who later shot himself dead.
In 2020, a soldier shot and killed at least 29 people and wounded 57 in a rampage that spanned four locations around the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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