Thai Police Detain Teenager After Shooting Kills, Injures Several People At Bangkok Mall
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BANGKOK (Worthy News) – Police in Thailand have detained a 14-year-old boy suspected of killing two people in a shooting at Bangkok’s luxurious Siam Paragon shopping mall, one of Asia’s most visited touristic spots.
The incident started late Tuesday local time when people heard multiple gunshots on the lower floors.
Dramatic footage showed hundreds of people, including children, running for the exits, some screaming, as the drama unfolded.
Some didn’t survive. Thai police confirmed that the two persons who died were from China and Myanmar, also known as Burma. Five others were injured, police said.
Thailand’s national police chief, Torsak Sukvimol, told reporters that the suspect had “a history of mental health problems” and had not taken prescribed medication.
He said the suspect was confused and “couldn’t communicate well.” He added, “We have spoken to his parents.”
HEARING VOICE
The boy told police that “someone was telling him to shoot others,” recalled Torsak.
After hearing that “someone,” the boy somehow managed to take a gun to the high-profile mall. “It happened in just a few minutes. We saw all the people run, run, run, we didn’t understand what was happening,” said 26-year-old Shir Yahav from Israel.
He told reporters that he was at a designer store at the time of the shooting. “We heard several shots, like six or seven shots.”
Fleeing shoppers were ushered by security guards from the mall into torrential rain and towards a road with heavy traffic, footage seen by Worthy News showed.
It was the latest in a series of tragedies hitting the Asian nation, where there are questions raised about gun ownership and gun violence.
Tuesday’s incident came a year after an ex-police officer killed 35 people, including 22 children, at a nursery during an hours-long gun-and-knife attack. He later shot himself dead at home.
MORE VIOLENCE
In 2020, a soldier shot and killed at least 29 people and wounded 57 in a rampage that spanned four locations around the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima, authorities said.
Back at Siam Paragon, police and the shopping center’s security team managed to evacuate customers and employees from the building immediately, officials said.
The mall expressed its condolences to the families of those killed.
“We would like to express our sincerest gratitude to the police, volunteers, and our security team for their dedicated efforts in bringing the situation under control,” it said.
It remained unclear late Tuesday how the teenager had accessed a gun to create chaos in the heart of Thailand’s capital, home to some 10 million people.
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