Ex-policeman killed children at a nursery in Thailand

An ex-policeman identified as Panya Kamrab has killed at least 37 people, most of them children, in a gun and knife attack at a childcare centre in north-east Thailand.

Trigger warning

At least 22 children were among the dead in the mass killing. Some victims, aged as young as two, were attacked as they slept.

Police say that the attacker then killed himself, his wife and his son after the horrific incident. According to Thai police, the attacker mostly stabbed his victims before fleeing the scene.

“The shooter came in around lunchtime and shot four or five officials at the childcare centre first,” a local official told Reuters.

“After inspecting the crime scene, we found that the perpetrator tried to break in and he mainly used a knife to commit the crime by killing a number of small children,” said Police Chief.

“Then he got out and started killing anyone he met along the way with a gun or the knife until he got home. We surrounded the house and then found that he committed suicide in his home.”

The country’s Prime Minister (PM) Prayut Chan-o-cha described the incident as “a shocking event”.

The attacker was a police lieutenant colonel before he was dismissed last year for drug use.