A 14-year-old pupil killed at least six people and himself at a school outside Bangkok on Friday after fatally shooting his grandparents, police said, in Thailand's worst mass killing since 2022
Children fled Debsirin Nonthaburi School, on the northern outskirts of the capital, as those injured in the attack were carried into ambulances. National police spokesman Lt Col Trirong Phophan said the suspected shooter was among those killed. Fifteen were injured, he added.
The attacker is alleged to have shot and killed his grandparents at their home on Friday before opening fire at the school on Bangkok's outskirts, police said. Twenty-six rounds were fired and another 34 rounds of ammunition were found at the scene, police added.
One 18-year-old pupil said he initially thought the sounds of gunfire were firecrackers 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."
Thai Education Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong told Reuters that the dead included teachers and pupils. Deputy Education Minister Akkharanan Kannakittinan said in a statement that he was co-ordinating assistance efforts.
It is the second school shooting in Thailand this year, after a teacher died and a pupil was injured in the south of the country in February.
Emergency worker Kiatikhun Verapongpradith said pupils were treated for injuries to their back, chest and arms. Medics discovered the body of a male teacher on an upper floor of the school, while a female teacher was found in another room with chest and arm injuries.
"We gave CPR for about 30 minutes and rushed her to the hospital as we could not get her heart rate up, but we tried our best," Mr Verapongpradith said.
In the 2025 academic year, the school had about 3,100 pupils enrolled and employed 147 teachers, district authorities said.
Gun ownership and gun violence are not uncommon in Thailand, which has faced a series of deadly shootings in the past six years, with children among the victims. The country's worst mass killing by a single attacker in its recent history took place in 2022, when a former policeman carried out a three-hour gun-and-knife attack in the north-east. He killed 36 people, including 22 children who were stabbed as they slept at a daycare centre.
