A gunman murdered more than 30 people Thursday when he opened fire in a childcare center in northeastern Thailand.
Among the dead are at least 23 children and multiple teachers, reports indicate.
The suspect has been named by police as Panya Khamrap (pictured) who was allegedly fired from the force last year after failing a drugs test, and was due in court Friday.
AP reports police Maj. Gen. Achayon Kraithong said the attack came in the afternoon in the center in the town of Nongbua Lamphu, about 500km north of Bangkok.
He said the 34-year-old attacker killed 30 people before taking his own life.
The Daily Mail reports the suspect is understood to have also killed his wife and child in the rampage after returning home.
A spokesperson for a regional public affairs office said 26 deaths have been confirmed so far — 23 children, two teachers and one police officer. Authorities warn the death toll is likely to rise in coming hours.
Thai police had earlier on their Facebook page identified the shooter as a 34-year-old Panya Khamrap. They said he had fled the daycare centre in a white pick-up truck. (Facebook)
According to Thai media reports, the gunman also used knives in the attack before fleeing the facility.
Eyewitness Paweena Purichan, 31, was riding her motorcycle to her shop when she encountered the fleeing Panya driving erratically.
“He intended to crash into others on the road,” she told AFP.
In this image taken from video, a distraught woman is comforted outside the site of an attack at a childcare center, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, in the town of Nongbua Lamphu, north eastern Thailand. (Mungkorn Sriboonreung Rescue Group via AP)
Residents line up to donate blood a the local hospital for victims of an attack at a day childcare center, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, in the town of Nongbua Lamphu, north eastern Thailand. (Warnwarn Ch via AP)
“The attacker rammed a motorbike and two people were injured. I sped off to get away from him.”
“There was blood everywhere.”
Paweena said the attacker was well known in the area as a drug addict.
This is the Nong Bua child development centre in north-eastern Thailand’s Nongbua Lamphu province where police say ex-officer Panya Kamrab carried out the deadly massacre of men, women, and children. (Google)
While Thailand has high rates of gun ownership, mass shootings are rare but a 2020 incident saw a soldier kill 29 people in a shooting spree that began at a military site and then sent shoppers hunting for cover after the gunman entered a mall, as Breitbart News reported.
Photographs showed at least two bodies on the floor of the center covered in white sheets.
The Daily News newspaper reported that after fleeing the scene of the attack the assailant returned to his home and killed himself along with his wife and child, the AP report sets out.