At least seven people killed in school shooting in Thailand

Seven ‌people were killed ​in a school shooting ​in ⁠Thailand on ‌Friday, ‌including ​the ⁠gunman, and 15 ​people ​were ‌wounded, Thai police said. The shooting took place at a school in Nonthaburi, on the northwestern outskirts of Bangkok, according to a Royal Thai Police spokesman.Three students and three teachers were killed, according to Thai newspaper Khaosod, which said that the suspected gunman was later found dead.Several Thai broadcasters aired footage appearing to show the suspected gunman, believed to be a student at the school, walking through a hallway.READ MOREVideos and photos shared on social media showed students running from classrooms, sheltering beneath desks and climbing through windows onto ledges outside the building as the shooting unfolded.Thai prime minister Anutin Charnvirakul said he was deeply saddened by the shooting. “It’s a terrible tragedy. This should never have happened,” he told reporters Friday.One 18-year-old student at the school said he initially thought there ​were firecrackers going off or ​someone banging an object.“I didn’t think it was a ‌gun at first,” he said, “There ​were many shots: bang bang bang. Then it went quiet. ⁠Then it started again.”Thailand has one of Southeast Asia’s highest rates of civilian gun ownership, and gun violence is more common than in many neighboring countries. School shootings, however, remain relatively rare.The country has experienced several high-profile mass shootings in recent years, including a 2020 attack by a soldier in a Nakhon Ratchasima mall that killed about 30 people, a 2022 attack on a daycare center that killed dozens of children, and a shooting at Bangkok’s Siam Paragon shopping mall in 2023 that left three people dead. - Bloomberg/Reuters