35 killed in Thai kindergarten shooting

A former policeman tried for drugs, enters an early childhood education center in Nong Bua Lamphu province with a shotgun, a pistol and a knife and kills his family before taking his own life.

At least 35 people have been killed by rifle shots fired by an ex-policeman at a kindergarten in the town of Uthai Sawan in Nong Bua Lam Phu, northeastern Thailand, police said.

The latest police statement on the incident, which occurred around noon local time, also reported 15 injured, eight of whom are in serious serious condition. When the killer arrived, about 30 children were in the centre, a lower number than usual, as heavy rains in the area had caused many children to stay at home.

A 34-year-old policeman who was removed from the force after drug possession offenses committed suicide after the attack, the police reported on its Facebook account.

We confirm that the gunman shot himself and is dead, police said in an official Facebook profile, while rescue services said that before taking his own life he also killed his wife and child.

The alleged assailant shot with an automatic rifle those present in a children's school in Nongbua Lamphu province, which usually holds children between 2 and 5 years old, before fleeing in a van.

Images provided by the police show dozens of corpses lying in different rooms. Many of the injured have been taken to the Nong Bua Lamphu hospital, which has requested that citizens donate blood of all types, according to local media.

Relatives of the victims rushed to the compound, which was cordoned off by police, with many of them succumbing to despair, as seen in images and videos circulating on social media.

The Prime Minister, Prayut Chan-ocha, has expressed his condolences to the families and ordered the police chief to go to the site to coordinate the search and capture of the suspect, as reported by the Thairath newspaper. The causes of the incident are not known at the moment.

Mass shootings in Thailand are rare, but in 2020 a soldier killed 29 people and wounded 58 in a rampage that spanned several locations, including a military camp and a large shopping mall in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima.

A police officer shot dead two colleagues and wounded another at the Army Training Command War College in Bangkok last month.