Teen kills eight, in school and home shooting in Thailand

Thai teen kills eight in rampage at home and school before shooting himself

BANGKOK — Thailand was shaken by one of its deadliest mass shootings in years on Friday after a 14-year-old student allegedly killed his grandparents before opening fire at a school outside Bangkok, killing several people and leaving more than a dozen injured.

The teenager was identified as the suspected gunman at Debsirin Nonthaburi School in Nonthaburi province, on the northwestern outskirts of the capital.

Police said the boy first fatally shot his grandparents before heading to the school, where he fired at least 26 rounds. He was also found with additional ammunition, according to authorities. The gun was reportedly registered to his grandfather.

The teenager eventually shot himself and was taken to hospital, where he later died, according to reports.

As the violence unfolded, students poured out of the school while emergency workers rushed the wounded to hospitals. Teachers were seen embracing one another and crying as the full scale of the tragedy became apparent.

One 18-year-old student told Reuters he initially mistook the sound of gunfire for firecrackers or someone striking 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.”

Police said teachers and students were among those killed or injured. Emergency responders reported treating victims with gunshot wounds to areas including the back, chest and arms.

Emergency worker Kiatikhun Verapongpradith said his team arrived while the shooting was still underway.

He recalled finding a male teacher dead on an upper floor and another female teacher wounded in a separate room.

The emergency worker also described the moment his team reached the suspected gunman after hearing a final shot.

Thai teen kills eight in rampage at home and school before shooting himself

“We rushed up and found that the perpetrator had shot himself in the right side of the head and collapsed. When we got up there, we checked his pulse, he still had one, so we started CPR.”

The suspect was subsequently taken to hospital.

A school turned into a crime scene

The shooting sent panic through the school, which had about 3,100 students and 147 teachers during the 2025 academic year, according to district authorities.

Education Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong said both teachers and students were among the casualties.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul expressed shock over the attack.

“This is terrible for something like this to happen,” he told reporters. “I’m sad for those who died and sad for something like this to happen in our country.”

The attack has also renewed scrutiny of gun access in Thailand, particularly after a firearm reportedly belonging to the teenager’s grandfather was used in the killings.

Thailand’s recurring gun violence problem

Friday’s attack is the latest in a series of deadly shootings that have unsettled Thailand in recent years.

The country’s deadliest mass killing in recent history occurred in 2022, when a former police officer carried out a three-hour gun-and-knife rampage in northeastern Thailand. Thirty-six people were killed, including 22 children at a daycare centre.

Thailand also suffered a fatal school shooting earlier this year, while other high-profile attacks have included the 2023 shooting at Bangkok’s Siam Paragon shopping centre, where a 14-year-old gunman killed three people.

In 2020, a soldier killed 29 people during a shooting rampage in Nakhon Ratchasima.

The repeated incidents have intensified debate over firearms despite existing restrictions.

Following the 2023 Bangkok shopping-centre shooting, authorities introduced additional measures, including restrictions on new gun licences, limits on imports and a prohibition on people under 20 using shooting ranges. Longer-term proposals included medical assessments of gun owners and tighter controls over the validity of some firearm licences.

The Small Arms Survey estimated in 2017 that Thailand had about 10.3 million civilian-held firearms, equivalent to roughly 15 guns per 100 people—the highest civilian firearm rate in Southeast Asia at the time.

Friday’s attack has once again forced Thailand to confront the consequences of that widespread access to firearms, this time with a school full of children at the centre of the tragedy.