22 children, 15 others killed in mass shooting at Thailand childcare centre

[reader]

From Channel News Asia

BANGKOK: A former policeman killed 37 people, including 22 children, in a gun and knife rampage at a childcare centre in north-eastern Thailand on Thursday (Oct 6), later shooting dead his wife and child at their home before turning his weapon on himself, police said.

The children at the childcare centre in Uthai Sawan, a town 500km northeast of Bangkok, were mostly stabbed to death, they said.

Police identified the attacker as a former member of the force who was dismissed from his post last year over drug allegations and he was facing trial on a drugs charge.

The man had been in court earlier in the day and had then gone to the childcare centre to collect his child, police spokesperson Paisal Luesomboon told broadcaster ThaiPBS.

When he did not find his child there, he began the killing spree, Paisal said.

"He started shooting, slashing, killing children at the Utai Sawan daycare centre."

Continues with video

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/thailand-mass-shooting-childcare-centre-gunman-killed-himself-former-policeman-2991456

 

[forrestreid]

Horrifying report - I cannot read about this story.

[reader]

From the Thaiger

Thais unhappy with Prawit’s response to daycare centre massacre

The Thai people were not impressed with the insensitive statement delivered by Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan about the daycare centre massacre yesterday.

Thai reporters asked Deputy PM Prawit how he planned to prevent a similar scenario in the future.

He said…

“What can I do about it? He is a drug addict.”

Prawit offered his condolences to the victim’s families, admitting that he did not expect this kind of tragedy to happen in Thailand but his response was pretty weak.

“I am sorry for the losses of all the families of the victims. The killer has already died, and his family has also. I never expected that this kind of incident would happen. It happened because of the drugs, and the government has always tried to help all drug addicts. It wasn’t lucky that the man had committed suicide because his family, wife and son were also killed.”

[PeterRS]

Drugs? According to the toxicology report. there were no drugs in the muderer's system. But his mental health was clearly an issue given that he had been fired and was to be arraigned on drugs charges. Similar to the USA and I assume other countries, more attention will be paid to mental issues as the cause, but as I have asked before in this forum, how on earth do you identify people likely to commit mass murder on the basis of mental health? You may identify a few but you will never find more than that.

[vinapu]

2 hours ago, PeterRS said:

...... how on earth do you identify people likely to commit mass murder on the basis of mental health? You may identify a few but you will never find more than that.

that's correct, we can lock some who are showing repeatedly violet streaks but certainly those will be only few.

About 10 years ago my neighbor was pushed down the stairs on metro station by guy who just seconds before broadly smiled at her and she returned that smile. She survived but spent few months in hospital and we noticed accident left mental scars on her   

[PeterRS]

As we have been exposed to more images and video footage of Thurday's massacre, I have found myself becoming very emotional over this senseless, horrific, cold-blooded murder of innocent little children. I thought I had become all but used to news about the massacres of schoolchildren of any age - from Columbine, to Dunblane in Scotland, Virginia Tech, the Anders Breivik mass slaughter in Norway, the ghastly Sandy Hook murders, Parkland to the more recent atrocity at Uvalde in Texas. Although the world has little good to say about Russia at the present time, we should not forget to include here the bloodiest murder of the largest number of schoolchildren at Beslan in 2004. 

Perhaps it is because this one is so much closer to my home. Watching happy parents driving recently with their two laughing 3-year old twin boys and knowing that both boys are now dead just brought tears to my eyes. Nothing surely can be more personally harrowing than the loss of such young children. In this case, though, it was surely made worse because quite a number of the parents of these little angels had had to leave the village to find work nearby. They did not get to spend as much time with their children as I am sure they would have liked. Now they are gone. It is said that time is a great healer. How in God's good earth can those parents ever get over this tragedy?

[reader]

18 hours ago, PeterRS said:

Drugs? According to the toxicology report. there were no drugs in the muderer's system. But his mental health was clearly an issue given that he had been fired and was to be arraigned on drugs charges. Similar to the USA and I assume other countries, more attention will be paid to mental issues as the cause, but as I have asked before in this forum, how on earth do you identify people likely to commit mass murder on the basis of mental health? You may identify a few but you will never find more than that.

I agree. But if this perp had been among the few all the efforts would have been worth it.

1 hour ago, PeterRS said:

 Now they are gone. It is said that time is a great healer. How in God's good earth can those parents ever get over this tragedy?

As the Sandy Hook tragedy demonstrates, they never do. 

[reader]

From Channel News Asia

How one man sheltered 60 children as Thai nursery massacre unfolded close by

UTHAI SAWAN, Thailand: Monchai Pipatvilaikul never thought that the manicured stone garden at his house would one day become a playground for 60 schoolchildren, let alone their hiding place from an armed criminal.

But when he heard about a cold-blooded massacre at a local nursery nearby on Thursday (Oct 6), everything changed.

The armed assailant had fled the scene and was still at large at the time. The situation deeply worried Monchai, who feared the attacker might go on to target a primary school just a few kilometres from the nursery.

With the school also in close proximity to the perpetrator’s house, the students in class that day could be in danger.

“I rang the director of Ban Non Sawat Nong Paibool School and he told me what I’d heard was true. He also said there were students stuck inside the school. They were in classrooms with their teachers,” Monchai told CNA.

“So, I talked to my wife about rescuing them.”

Monchai owns a stone mill in the sub-district of Uthai Sawan, Nong Bua Lamphu, where the massacre took place. 
“It wasn’t clear at that time what was happening, so I thought while the situation was still volatile, the (primary school) students should come to my place as it would definitely be safe for them,” said Monchai.

Together with his wife and two employees, he rushed to the school in two four-wheel drives. They chose a route largely unknown even among locals, that leads to the back of the school but with terrain that is rough and difficult to navigate.

“There are two routes to the school. One is rough and requires a four-wheel drive. The other one is actually fine too but there were chances that we would run into the perpetrator," Monchai explained.

When they arrived at the school, the students were still hiding. One of the teachers told CNA there were about 60 children and ten teachers lying low in four rooms on the premises.

All the doors and windows were shut, and the students told to remain quiet to make it seem like nobody was at the school. 

“We took the children to hide in different rooms because we had heard the perpetrator was coming this way, and we were afraid he would come into the school,” said Teeramet Sewana, a teacher who had been working at Ban Non Sawat Nong Paibool School for only six months.
 

When the 26-year-old heard about the massacre, he was in a cooking class with his students, making snacks. Examinations were already over and the children were just a day away from a school break.

 

“I told the children to stay quiet, closed all the windows and locked the door,” he told CNA.

They had been hiding in fear for nearly an hour, when someone knocked at the door.

It was Monchai, who recounted that nobody made any noise or opened the door until a school employee informed those hiding inside that they could come out. 

“I told the kids we were going on a school excursion and that they should hurry,” he said. “'Hurry up, kids! Let’s go!’”

The evacuation took place quickly, with teachers and students transported to Monchai’s house in two trips. During this time, terrified parents were calling the teachers to make sure their children were safe.

As soon as all the students and teachers were inside his house, Monchai closed the gate and ordered several male employees to guard the place.

“The kids were brought to sit in the pavilion. They got to use the restroom, then ran and played in the garden,” said the stone mill owner. “I also played music for them.”

The students and teachers stayed at his place for about two hours - until police confirmed that the perpetrator had shot himself to death.

Continues at

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/thailand-nursery-shooting-mass-rescue-students-evacuate-primary-school-2997026

[reader]

From Thai PBS World

Thai immigration withdraw tourist visas of two CNN reporters

Thai immigration officials have withdrawn the visas of two CNN reporters who entered the crime scene of Thursday’s mass killings at the child care centre in Nong Bua Lam Phu province, Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn, deputy national police chief said today (Sunday).

He said that the two reporters, 47-year-old Anna Coren, an Australian, and 34-year-old Daniel Hodge, a Briton, were escorted from their hotel in Udon Thani by police and taken to Na Klang police station in Nong Bua Lam Phu province for questioning.

He said that police want to know from them which Thai officials had allowed them into the crime scene, as they had claimed, adding, that only the police have the authority to grant such permission.

The deputy national police chief also said that the two reporters may face charges of intrusion into a crime scene and interfering with evidence, if it can be proved that they crossedthe crime scene cordon without permission.

He explained that, according to Thai legal procedure, the two reporters will be deported and blacklisted, but only after the completion of any legal proceedings.

An informed source at the Immigration Bureau, meanwhile, said that officials had checked the two reporters’ visas and found that they are in the country on tourist visas.

[PeterRS]

Daniel Hodge is not a reporter. He is a cameraman. Anna Coren is a CNN reporter based in the CNN Hong Kong bureau.

I agree they should not have been permitted inside a crime scene even though they did not show graphic images in any news bulletins. The implication behind the last sentence is slightly scary, though. No reporter and his/her crew can be expected to obtain work visas if they are going to do their jobs by covering last minute news items. I'll bet anything that those many hundreds covering the Cave Rescue were here on tourist visas. If Thailand wants the good covered as well as the bad, there is no alternative to reporters having free access on tourist visas.

[alvnv]

2 hours ago, PeterRS said:

Daniel Hodge is not a reporter. He is a cameraman. Anna Coren is a CNN reporter based in the CNN Hong Kong bureau.

I agree they should not have been permitted inside a crime scene even though they did not show graphic images in any news bulletins. The implication behind the last sentence is slightly scary, though. No reporter and his/her crew can be expected to obtain work visas if they are going to do their jobs by covering last minute news items. I'll bet anything that those many hundreds covering the Cave Rescue were here on tourist visas. If Thailand wants the good covered as well as the bad, there is no alternative to reporters having free access on tourist visas.

I don’t know about Thailand but, pretty much everywhere else in the World, Press need to be accredited with appropriate agency in the host country in order to enjoy their privileges, which includes acting in their official capacity. The accreditation process, in case of emergencies, usually just takes minutes and involves an email from the company bureau covering the host country. No developed nation would allow tourists act as Press without proper accreditation. Assuming that it’s ok to do so in a developing country is highly disrespectful to the host nation, not to mention, illegal.

[PeterRS]

Your point is taken @alvnv. Over the years CNN has reported extensively about Thailand and from within Thailand. I cannot believe its experienced Asian based journalists do not have accreditation. I expect the official quoted in the press clipping was talking about something he knew little about - a common occurrence in Thailand!

[vinapu]

7 hours ago, PeterRS said:

 I expect the official quoted in the press clipping was talking about something he knew little about - a common occurrence in Thailand!

only in Thailand ?

[reader]

The following quote is from the Wall Street Journal (Oct. 10):

In their efforts to understand the killings, many here cite drugs, which they describe as a blight on their community that ensnares teenagers and workers alike. Police said the killer had a history of drug abuse and was fired as a police officer after being arrested for methamphetamine possession. An autopsy showed he hadn’t taken any narcotics before the attack. He was scheduled to appear for a court hearing on Friday in connection with the drug-possession charge.

Mayor Taweesak Chantasri, a former journalist and political activist who oversees a larger region that encompasses the district of Uthai Sawan, said methamphetamine abuse is common. Some workers on the plantations and in the factories have been known to get hooked after taking it to help finish grueling shifts or meet production quotas, he said.

“It’s a very difficult problem,” he said. Cheap and abundant, “the drugs are everywhere in society,” he added.