Thailand school shooting: teen suspect killed at least seven people and injured more than 30, officials say

A schoolgirl cries outside her school where deaths and injuries were reported after a shooting in Thailand's Nonthaburi province, Friday, Aug. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

A student shot several people at a high school outside Bangkok on Friday, killing three teachers and three students and wounding several others, police said.

The shooting happened at the Debsirin Nonthaburi School in Nonthaburi province northwest of the national capital.

Thai officials have revised down the death toll from the school shooting. Earlier officials said a total of eight people were killed (the suspect’s two grandparents at their home, and then three teachers and three students at the school).

But now the national police said the 14-year-old suspect killed seven people overall: first his two grandparents, using his grandfather’s handgun, at their home, then he was said to have killed five school staff at the Debsirin secondary school in Nonthaburi province.

The suspect also died, with a police official telling the AFP news agency that he had killed himself after the attack.

Thailand’s prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, has confirmed that more than 30 people were injured, with around nine in critical condition.

Seven mental health crisis assessment and treatment teams have also been deployed to provide psychological support to the affected community.

Dr Somruek Juengsaman, the permanent secretary for public health, said mental health care is being triaged according to proximity to the event, with the highest priority group being the injured and the relatives of the deceased.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul offered his condolences and said he had ordered relevant officials to take care of the victims.

Mr Charnvirakul has vowed to propose ⁠a law to restrict the carrying of firearms by the public.

“The new law will only allow government officials on duty to carry guns,” he told reporters on Friday, but did not provide any ⁠specifics, including whether the legislation will tighten gun ownership requirements.

Thailand is known to have the highest rate of civilian gun ownership in south-east Asia, and the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey in 2017 placed the country 13th globally for small gun possession, as my colleague notes in this story.

Mass shootings have also regularly occurred in Thailand, including incidents at schools, a major Bangkok mall and a 2022 attack in the country’s northeast that ‌killed 36 people, including 22 children.

The country’s licensing regime still lacks mental health screening for people applying to possess a ⁠gun and does not require periodic reassessments ​for licence holders, according to Piyaporn Tunneekul, an ​associate professor at Nakhon Pathom Rajabhat University in Thailand.

-The Guardian