Thai police shot and arrested a gunman who opened fire Wednesday at a school in southern Thailand, authorities said. The suspect enteredPhatong Prathan Khiriwat Schoolin Hat Yai district in “an agitated state while carrying a gun,” the Songkhla provincial government said in a statement. Shortly after he entered the school grounds, “about two to three gunshots were heard,” the statement added, reports AFP.
A video circulating online showed people scrambling for safety after gunshots rang out. Times Now could not immediately verify the video.
“Police shot the suspect in the Hat Yai shooting,” Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau said in a statement, after earlier saying the gunman had been killed.
Authorities said there were no reports of victims. All students and staff at the school were safe, the national police said. The suspect was taken into custody following the shooting.
A school administrator told AFP she was at the scene but was too frightened to speak further before ending the call.
The incident occurred in Songkhla province, in southern Thailand. Police did not immediately release details about the suspect or a possible motive.
“The perpetrator has been captured,” Deputy Superintendent Wichian Soboon told Reuters. He said two people — a student and a teacher — were wounded in the incident.
Police shared a photograph showing the suspect barefoot and dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, being restrained on the ground by armed officers.
More videos on social media appeared to show armed police storming the three-story school as gunfire was heard. In another clip, students were seen running down stairs while police officers, some wearing helmets and bulletproof vests and carrying rifles, shouted: “Go home kids, it’s safe.”
Gun violence is not uncommon in Thailand. In 2022, a former police officer killed 36 people, including 22 children, in a gun-and-knife attack at a nursery in eastern Thailand.
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