3 Things To Know About The Shooting By A 14-Year-Old Gunman In Bangkok
Hundreds of people were seen rushing out onto the streets after gunshots were heard in Siam Paragon.
By May Vin Ang — 04 Oct 2023, 11:19 AM
A 14-year-old boy opened fire at the Siam Paragon shopping centre in Bangkok, Thailand, on Tuesday, 3 October, killing two people and wounding five others
According to footage shared on social media around 4.30pm yesterday, hundreds of people were seen rushing out onto the streets after gunshots were heard in the most famous luxury mall in Bangkok.
1. The 14-year-old suspect surrendered himself after the shooting
Khaosod English reported that the incident concluded at 5.09pm when the gunman dropped his weapon and kneeled to the police at the scene.
He was detained on the third floor of the Siam Kempinski Hotel, where he had fled to after opening fire at the next door shopping mall.
According to Reuters, emergency services shared an image of a police officer handcuffing the individual lying face down on the ground and another of an officer retrieving a handgun from the floor.
A senior police official said today, 4 October, that the handgun had been modified, as it was designed to fire only blanks.
A suspected gunman is detained after shots were fired at Siam Paragon.
Image via Reuters/New Straits Times
2. The two dead are both women, from China and Myanmar
According to New Straits Times, the death toll in the shooting has been clarified as two, down from the initially reported three.
National police chief Torsak Sukvimol stated that the 34-year-old Chinese woman died at the scene, while the Burmese, who was working in a departmental store in the mall, succumbed to her injuries later at the hospital.
Torsak said that the injured victims include one Laotian, one Chinese national, and three Thai nationals, who are currently receiving treatment at the hospital. Two of them are in serious condition.
Malaysia's ambassador to Thailand Datuk Jojie Samuel told Bernama that no Malaysians were involved in the shooting.
3. There is no information yet on the motive of the attack
Torsak said the suspect had been receiving psychiatric treatment and had skipped his prescribed medicine on the day of the incident.
The teenager was also too confused to undergo questioning at the time of arrest.
"We have spoken to his parents," Torsak told reporters.
"The suspect said that someone was telling him to shoot others."
Meanwhile, according to AFP, a private school called The Essence, located just metres from Siam Paragon, confirmed the suspect is one of their students.
The director of the school, Wiwat Catithammanit, issued a statement on Tuesday night, offering his condolences to the victims' families.
