BANGKOK: Three persons were killed and four others injured in a shooting at a shopping mall in Bangkok on Tuesday. Police in Thailand have arrested a 14-year-old after the shooting incident in the mall. The shooting took place around 5 pm (local time) at the Siam Paragon Mall in Bangkok, Police Colonel Noppadol Thiammekha, Pathum Wan Police Chief said, CNN reported.
Local authorities have arrested the suspect with a weapon and are assessing exact casualties, according to Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau. Speaking to reporters, Thailand Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said, “The attacker was arrested. In fact, he surrendered,” adding that the “situation is easing” as police cleared the scene at the Siam Paragon Mall, CBS News reported.
Videos shared on social media showed people in the mall running for exits as the sound of apparent gunshots could be heard in the background, CBS News reported. The shooting at the shopping mall came just days before Thailand will mark a year since one of the country’s bloodiest days in recent history when an former police officer armed with a knife and gun attacked a nursery, killing 12 adults and 24 children, according to CBS News report.
Gun ownership in Thailand is high in comparison to other nations in the region. According to the 2017 data from the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey (SAS), more than 10.3 million civilians held firearms in Thailand. SAS further revealed that about 6.2 million of those guns are legally registered.
Notably, mass shootings in Thailand are rare. In October 2022, at least 36 people were killed in gun and knife attack at a child care center in Thailand.
