By Euronews
Published on
A gunman on a shooting spree killed five people at a popular fresh food market in the Thai capital on Monday, police said.
The victims included security guards at the Or Tor Kor market in the Chatuchak district of Bangkok, according to a police statement.
The Erawan Medical Centre, which coordinates emergency medical services, reported two people were also wounded.
The fresh food market, located next to the sprawling Chatuchak Weekend Market, offers a wide range of goods and is popular with both Thai and foreign tourists.
A video circulating online reportedly showed the shooter wearing a sports hat and shorts walking in the market with a handgun in his hand and a satchel strapped to his chest. He killed himself after the spree, according to authorities.
Police said they were probing details about the suspect, including his motivation. The incident is not connected to the recent Thailand-Cambodia conflict, reports say.
Police General Kitrat Phanphet, chief of the national police force, said he has ordered city law enforcement to conduct their investigation promptly and gather all evidence, including closed-circuit video footage.
Thailand has fairly restrictive laws on gun ownership, but the number of those who possess firearms is still high, and gun violence is not unusual.
October 2023 marked the last mass shooting incident in Bangkok, when a teenager using a modified blank pistol shot several people at the Paragon shopping centre in the city’s central shopping district, killing three.
One of the country’s worst mass killings occurred in October 2022 in the northeastern province of Nong Bua Lamphua, when a police sergeant who had lost his job used guns and knives to kill 36 people, including two dozen toddlers at a day care centre.
In February 2020, a disgruntled Thai army soldier shot and killed 29 people, most at a shopping mall in the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima, before he was killed by police after an 18-hour standoff.
Additional sources • AP
