Reuters published October 3, 2023: Teen arrested after deadly shooting at Thai mall. A 14-year-old has been arrested in Thailand after a deadly shooting at a luxury mall in Bangkok. Police said the suspect had been receiving psychiatric treatment but had skipped his prescribed medicine on the day of the incident.
CNA published October 3, 2023: Bangkok Siam Paragon mall shooting: At least three killed, 14-year-old suspect arrested. At least three people have been killed in a shooting spree at a shopping mall in Bangkok. Thai police said a 14-year-old suspected gunman has been arrested. The incident occurred at Siam Paragon, one of the city's biggest malls located in the heart of the Thai capital. Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has expressed concern over the incident. He expressed condolences to families of those who died, and said the police are closely monitoring the situation.
CBS News
written by Staff and AFP
Tuesday October 3, 2023
Bangkok — Two people were killed and five others wounded in a shooting at a Bangkok shopping mall on Tuesday, Thai emergency services officials said, as police confirmed that a 14-year-old boy had been arrested as the suspected shooter.
"The attacker was arrested. In fact, he surrendered," Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin told reporters earlier, adding that the "situation is easing" as police cleared the scene at the Siam Paragon Mall, one of Thailand's most upscale shopping malls.
Video uploaded to social media and broadcast on television showed a long-haired teenage boy in the custody of police. Recently appointed police chief Torsak Sukvimol confirmed that the suspect is a minor and that he had a record of being treated for mental illness. He said police had not yet learned where the suspect obtained his gun.
Torsak said two people had been killed, a visitor from China and a Myanmar national, and five people hurt. Earlier, Yutthana Sretthanan, director of Bangkok's Erawan Emergency Medical Center, had said three people were killed and six were injured. There was no explanation of the discrepancy, though Yutthana later supported the police numbers.
The Metropolitan Investigation Bureau of the Royal Thai Police announced the arrest of a 14-year-old boy in connection with the attack later Tuesday on its official Facebook page.
Videos posted on social media showed panicked shoppers running for exits as the sound of apparent gunshots could be heard in the background.
Dozens of police vehicles and a number of ambulances could be seen outside one of the mall's main entrances in the wake of the incident. People were still being escorted from the mall, while bystanders could be seen walking along the gridlocked road outside.
The shooting came just days before Thailand will mark a year since of one of the country's bloodiest days in recent history, when an ex-police officer armed with a knife and gun attacked a nursery, murdering 24 children and 12 adults.
In 2020, a former army officer went on a rampage in a shopping mall in Korat, murdering 29 people and wounding scores more.
The Times and The Sunday Times published October 3, 2023: Dramatic moment Thai schoolboy arrested for alleged mass shooting.
Come on now, the teen shooter is seen in this video wearing a baseball cap with the American flag on it. (emphasis mine)
Reuters News
written by Panarat Thepgumpanat and Chayut Setboonsarng
Tuesday October 3, 2023
BANGKOK - Thai police arrested a teenage gunman suspected of killing two foreigners and wounding five people on Tuesday in a shooting spree at a luxury Bangkok mall, the latest high-profile gun violence to rock the country in recent years.
Hundreds of people, including children, were seen screaming and racing into the streets after gunshots rang out at the Siam Paragon mall, a major shopping and entertainment venue popular with tourists in Bangkok's crowded commercial heart.
Police said two women had been killed, from China and Myanmar, and five others wounded.
National police chief Torsak Sukvimol said the suspected shooter was 14 years old and had been receiving psychiatric treatment, but had skipped his prescribed medicine on the day of the incident.
"We have spoken to his parents," Torsak told reporters.
"The suspect said that someone was telling him to shoot others."
Fleeing shoppers were ushered by security guards from the mall into torrential rain and towards a road with heavy traffic. Verified social media footage showed some rushing towards the exit of a ground-floor supermarket, screaming as the sound of a gunshot is heard.
"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, who was at a designer store at the time of the shooting.
"We heard several shots, like six or seven shots."
Gun violence and gun ownership are not uncommon in Thailand and the incident comes 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.
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.
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Emergency services shared an image of a police officer handcuffing an individual lying face down on the ground and another of an officer retrieving a handgun from the floor.
Authorities earlier posted a grainy image of the suspected gunman wearing glasses, khaki cargo pants and a baseball cap, clutching an unidentifiable dark object.
The incident comes as Thailand's new government seeks to stimulate its sluggish economy by boosting tourist arrivals in what is one of Asia's most popular travel hotspots, including by offering visa-free entry to Chinese nationals.
Named the world's most photographed place by Instagram in 2013, Siam Paragon is Thailand's most famous mall, drawing throngs of local and foreign shoppers daily to its high-end stores, aquarium, movie theatre and popular food court dining.
Susinee, a restaurant worker, said she and her colleagues bolted when they heard gunshots.
"We just ran out," she said, standing with half a dozen of her colleagues.
Police said staff at the mall had received training in dealing with active shooters.
The mall said it had evacuated shoppers and staff immediately, stressing safety was of the utmost importance.
"Siam Paragon would like to express our deep apologies for the unexpected event," it said in a statement, adding the mall would reopen on Wednesday.
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