Jack Taylor/AFP/Getty Images
Rescue workers arrive after a fatal shooting at a shopping center in central Bangkok, Thailand, on October 3.
Bangkok, Thailand CNN –
Police in Thailand arrested a 14-year-old boy after at least two people were killed and five others injured in a shooting at a luxury shopping mall in the capital Bangkok on Tuesday, prompting frightened shoppers to flee the scene.
Video shows crowds of people running from the busy Siam Paragon shopping center in central Bangkok, where the fatal shooting took place.
The shooting occurred around 4:20 p.m. local time (5:20 a.m. ET), Police Lt. Gen. Samran Nualma, deputy commissioner general of the Royal Thai Police, said at a news conference on Wednesday.
The suspect, who reportedly has mental health problems, was arrested less than an hour after the shooting began and taken to a nearby hospital after being questioned by police, Thai Police General Torsak Sukvimol told reporters.
One of the deceased victims was a Chinese national and the other was a Myanmar national, Sukvimol said.
Three Thai citizens, a Chinese citizen and a Laos citizen were injured in the shooting of “varying degrees of severity,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Kanchana Patarachoke said on Wednesday.
“While the case is still under investigation and some details cannot be shared, please be assured that appropriate action will be taken.” The government’s priority is to ensure the safety of Thais and foreigners alike and to prevent such tragedies from occurring in the future prevent,” said Kanchana.
The Bangkok Emergency Center revised an earlier death toll that said three people were killed in the shooting. The director of the center, Dr. Yutthana Setthanan, told reporters he was initially told the death toll was three, but later clarified that only one person had been killed. According to Sukvimol, the death toll later rose to two.
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Siam Paragon shopping center is seen empty after people were evacuated from the scene.
Jack Taylor/AFP/Getty Images
People gather in front of the shopping center in the Thai capital.
According to Portal, several people described chaotic scenes as employees and shoppers tried to flee the mall during the attack.
Shir Yahav, 26, said the shooting happened “in just a few minutes,” the agency reported.
“We saw all the people running, running, running, we didn’t understand what was happening,” Yahav said. “We were walking with them and then we heard several gunshots, about six or seven shots. We blocked the door of the store.”
Susinee, 35, said she and about half a dozen other workers “just ran out of a Japanese ramen restaurant,” Portal reported.
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Sukvimol said the suspect “handed himself in” after the shooting and still had ammunition when he was arrested.
“We can’t talk much about his personal problems because he is still a teenager,” the police chief said of the suspect, adding that officers had spoken to his parents.
“He has mental health issues and is being treated at Rajvithee Hospital,” he added.
The police general did not say where the teenager got the weapon from.
During a joint news conference on Wednesday, police said the suspect had modified a blank pistol so that it could fire live shots.
Sukvimol praised mall security for effectively dealing with an active shooter. “When the shooting happened, there were a lot of people in the mall, it was rush hour and it was raining outside.”
Thai Rescue Workers Association/Portal
An officer inspects a weapon. A police general said the suspected shooter still had ammunition when he was arrested.
Compared to other countries in the region, gun ownership in the Southeast Asian country is high.
According to 2017 data from the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey (SAS), more than 10.3 million civilians in Thailand own firearms, which equates to about 15 firearms for every 100 people. According to the SAS, around 6.2 million of these weapons are legally registered.
According to the 2019 Global Burden of Disease database from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, Thailand has the second highest number of firearm homicides in Southeast Asia after the Philippines.
But mass shootings in the country are rare. In October 2022, at least 36 people were killed in a gun and knife attack on a daycare center in northeastern Thailand.
The massacre in Nong Bua Lamphu province was considered the deadliest incident of its kind in the country.
Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin expressed her “deepest condolences” to the families of those killed in the shooting.
“I would like to offer my support to the families of the deceased and all those injured,” the prime minister wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.