A 14-year-old male opened fire on Tuesday, October 3, at Siam Paragon, a tourist hotspot in the heart of the Thai capital. He killed one person and injured six others before being arrested.
This Tuesday, October 3, a shooting occurred at a large shopping center in Bangkok, the Siam Paragon, a tourist hotspot in the heart of the Thai capital. Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin confirmed the information before announcing the attacker’s arrest a few minutes later. According to emergency services, the 14-year-old suspect killed one person and injured six others. He initially communicated with three victims before correcting his assessment at the beginning of the afternoon.
Hundreds of people had to hastily leave the building in the center of the Thai capital. Videos on social media show scenes of panic. Siam Paragon is one of Bangkok’s main shopping malls and is popular with locals and tourists from all over the world.
This incident occurred almost a year to the day after the largest mass killing in the Kingdom’s modern history in Nong Bua Lam Phu Province (Northeast). A former police officer used guns and knives to kill 36 people, most of them children under five, during a murderous drive that lasted more than three hours.
Armed attacks in the kingdom continue to claim victims almost every week. According to the Small Arms Survey, a Swiss research program, the country had around ten million firearms in 2017, of which almost half (4 million) were not registered with the authorities. In 2020, a murder at a mall in Nakhon Ratchasima left 29 people dead.
Updated at 2:30 p.m. : After the emergency services initially spoke of three victims, they revised their number downwards.