Bangkok: death toll from shooting rises to eight; 12-year-old girl dies

Emergency responder Kiatikhun Verapongpradith, 47, described arriving whilst the shooting was still underway, and his team treated students with injuries to their backs, chests and arms.

A nord-ovest della capitale

Ubicazione scuola Debsirin Nonthaburi

fonte: Google maps

The massacre took place at Debsirin Nonthaburi School.

A witness told journalists that the students had hidden inside a classroom whilst they heard gunshots coming from another building, before police officers knocked on the door and cleared a path for them to leave the building.

Oggetti personali e mobili degli studenti sparsi in un'aula, in seguito a una sparatoria avvenuta alla Debsirin Nonthaburi School Fondazione Pohg Teck Tung/Immagine fornita tramite REUTERS

Thai police say that the person suspected of the attack at the school was a teenage pupil in Year 9 (typically attended by 14-year-olds) who fired 26 shots, whilst a further 34 bullets were found at the scene of the attack.

In the 2025 academic year, the school had around 3,100 pupils and 147 teachers , according to district authorities. The school is part of the Debsirin network, founded by the Thai royal family. Its alumni include prime ministers, scholars and writers.

The teenager had “clearly planned” the attack. This was stated by Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. “The police questioned a close friend of his, who stated that the boy was under pressure at school”, added the Prime Minister at the scene, in Nonthaburi province, north of the capital.

One of Thailand’s opposition leaders, Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, has called for a review of the country’s gun control measures following a shooting at a school in Bangkok, according to the BBC. “Although the motive for the attack remains unclear at present, an act of violence in an educational institution – which should be one of the safest places in our society – serves as a stark warning to Thai society to seriously and systematically review its gun control measures”, the leader of the People’s Party said, according to the British broadcaster.

According to AFP, “Thailand has one of the highest rates of firearm ownership in South-East Asia, with an estimated 10 million firearms in circulation”.

February 2026 — A teacher has died in the southern city of Hat Yai after a gunman opened fire at the school where she worked.

July 2025 — A gunman killed five people, including security guards and a market trader in Bangkok, in July 2025, before turning the gun on himself and taking his own life.

October 2023 — A 14-year-old boy shot and killed two people and injured five others at the luxury Siam Paragon shopping centre in Bangkok, using a modified blank-firing pistol which, according to the police, was probably purchased online.

October 2022 — A former police officer went on a rampage with firearms and knives in several locations for three hours, killing 36 people, including 22 children who were shot dead in their sleep at a nursery in the north-eastern province of Nong Bua Lam Phu. This was the worst mass murder committed by a single perpetrator in Thailand’s recent history.
The 34-year-old gunman, who killed his wife, his son and himself, had been dismissed from the police force for illegal drug possession and had been facing financial, legal and family problems.

February 2020 — A soldier, angered by a failed property deal, killed at least 29 people and injured 57 in four locations in and around the north-eastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima before being shot dead by security forces. Most of the victims were in a shopping centre, where he held out against an overnight siege armed with an assault rifle and ammunition stolen from his military base. He was subsequently shot dead.

February 2020 — A man killed his ex-wife in a shopping centre in Bangkok, murdering her at her workplace in a beauty clinic and injuring a passer-by.