'They were truly wonderful people': Grief pours out after Thai school shooting kills 7

Students and residents near a Thai school were left in shock and grief Friday, a day after a teenage boy shot and killed seven people — five teachers and staff members at his school and his own grandparents.

On Friday (local time), a 14-year-old student at Debsirin Nonthaburi School in Nonthaburi province, northwest of Bangkok, shot and killed his grandparents at home using his grandfather's handgun before boarding a school bus and traveling several kilometers to the campus.

According to police, he then shot and killed five school staff members — a mathematics teacher, a Thai-language teacher, a career counseling teacher, a student affairs administrator and a school secretary — before taking his own life.

Tatchai Jaiyen, 16, a student at the school, told AFP he could not believe that a teacher known for his kindness had been killed. "I'm still in shock," he said. "He was a really good person. I thought that if he had encountered the shooter, he could have talked him out of it. I never expected that kid would actually shoot him."

Purin Khumchu, 17, who said he narrowly escaped being shot, also expressed grief. "The two teachers who died were truly wonderful people, and many students were able to become better people because of them," he said.

Residents near the school — a prestigious institution known for producing prominent politicians — gathered at the school gate to lay flowers and mourn the victims.

Charin Sirianchanchai, 45, who came to lay flowers with his two sons, aged 9 and 6, told AP that the attack had left everyone devastated. "Nobody expected this to happen in Thailand, so everyone is in grief and shock," he said. "This is a really big loss." He added that even though his sons did not attend the school, he was deeply saddened.

The school canceled all classes for the coming week and instructed staff to work from home.

According to local police, the suspect killed his grandparents at around 5 a.m. Friday (local time), then boarded a school bus carrying the handgun and dozens of rounds of ammunition. He opened fire at around 9:50 a.m., about 30 minutes into the second period. Police and rescue workers found him at around 10:40 a.m. after he shot himself, having terrorized the school for nearly an hour.

The motive has not been definitively established, but the suspect — described as introverted and quiet — was reportedly bullied at school. The Straits Times reported that other students had locked him in a bathroom the day before the attack.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who rushed to the scene Friday, said police had interviewed the suspect's close friends and obtained statements indicating he had been under stress related to school. He added that the suspect's grandmother had been a former teacher and was "quite strict" about her grandson's academic performance.

Purin said the suspect had been his junior and gave him the impression of being a troubled student. "My friends who knew him said he was very interested in the FBI and guns, and that he was bullied by several other students," he said.

Initial police findings showed that from July 30, the suspect had been researching school shootings in the United States and playing violent video games, according to local outlet The Nation.

However, the village headman of the area where the suspect lived told the Straits Times that the grandparents were good people who had raised their grandson from a young age and "cared deeply for each other."

Prime Minister Anutin said the government would introduce legislation restricting civilian gun ownership, exempting only civil servants on duty, as one measure in response to the attack. He also pledged to work through the Ministry of Education to strengthen school safety, though he drew a line at installing metal detectors on campuses, calling it "not a normal thing to do."

In this regard, the Ministry of Education said it would review measures to prevent weapons and other dangerous items from being brought onto school grounds.

Meanwhile, the Thai government plans to pay 1 million baht ($30,100) in compensation to the families of those killed, 700,000 baht to victims left with serious disabilities, and either 100,000 or 200,000 baht to other injured victims depending on the severity of their injuries.