A teenage student opened fire at a high school on the northwestern outskirts of Bangkok on Friday, killing at least four people — including both teachers and students — and wounding 15 others before dying in what authorities described as a self-inflicted gunshot. The attack took place at Debsirin Nonthaburi School in the Bang Kruai district of Nonthaburi province, a densely populated area just north of the Thai capital.
According to the deputy interior minister, two students and two teachers were confirmed dead, though casualty figures continued to shift as the situation developed, with some local media reporting as many as six fatalities including the shooter. The 15 injured students were reportedly hurt not by gunfire but while fleeing the scene in panic. Police said the suspect, dressed in his purple school uniform and carrying a black cross-body bag, used a handgun; authorities are investigating how he obtained the weapon. The school enrols around 3,100 students and employs 147 teachers.
Witnesses described a terrifying scene. An 18-year-old student told reporters he initially mistook the gunshots for firecrackers. "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." Traffic around the school ground to a near standstill as parents rushed to collect their children, and images showed students streaming out of the campus as ambulances arrived.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul expressed shock at the attack. "It's such a terrible incident. It should never have happened. How could this happen in our country?" he told reporters. Education Minister Prasert Chantararuangthong, who was on official duties in another province at the time, ordered all education agencies to coordinate with authorities and called on the public and media to refrain from sharing graphic images or unverified information out of respect for victims and their families.
The shooting is the latest in a series of gun violence incidents to strike Thailand, a country with one of the highest rates of firearm ownership in Southeast Asia — an estimated 10 million guns in circulation, roughly one for every seven inhabitants. In February, a gunman killed a school principal in the southern Hat Yai district and wounded two students. The country's worst such tragedy came in October 2022, when a former police officer stormed a nursery in Nong Bua Lamphu province in the north, killing 24 children and 12 adults. Despite tightened gun laws in the aftermath — including mandatory medical evaluations for those seeking to purchase or renew a firearms licence — the repeated incidents have raised urgent questions about whether existing measures go far enough.