In a shooting spree at a daycare centre in eastern Thailand on Thursday, a former policeman killed 34 people, including 22 children. He then shot dead his wife and child at their home before turning the gun on himself, according to the police.
Police were able to identify the attacker as a former police officer who had been fired from his position last year due to drug-related allegations. He had appeared in court just hours prior to the shooting, according to authorities, and was scheduled to go on trial for a drug offence.
Witnesses claimed the attacker was also spotted using a knife in the attack in the town of Uthai Sawan, 500 kilometres (310 miles) northeast of Bangkok in the province of Nong Bua Lamphu, according to district police official Chakkraphat Wichitvaidya.
When the shooter came, there were fewer children at the centre than usual because of the severe rain that had kept many people away, according to district official Jidapa Boonsom, who was occupying a nearby office at the time.
According to Jidapa, who also noted that one of the victims was a teacher who was eight months pregnant, ‘the shooter came in around lunchtime and shot four or five officials at the childcare centre first.’
She claimed that first, many mistook the shots for fireworks.
‘It’s quite startling. Once we realised there was gunfire, we fled for cover in great fear. I’ve never seen anything like it—there were so many children slaughtered.’
According to Jidapa, the shooter broke into a closed room containing sleeping children. She claimed that she believed he used a knife to murder children there.