3 reported killed in Siam Paragon attack

[reader]

NOTE -- The Bangkok Post is reporting that the suspect is a 14-year-old boy. Other reports now put the number of killed at four.

From  Reuters / The Star

BANGKOK (Reuters): Police have arrested a suspected gunman after a shooting at a luxury mall in Thailand's capital Bangkok, local media reported.

Emergency services said at least three people were killed and three were injured in the incident at Bangkok's Siam Paragon. Television station Thai PBS reported five people wounded.

Thailand's Central Investigation Bureau posted an image on its Facebook page of a man they said was the suspected gunman.

Unverified videos shared on social media showed people, including children, running out of the doors of the Siam Paragon mall while security guards ushered them out.

A picture posted on social media reportedly showing the culprit being arrested. - @DEENWCRP/X

 

[fedssocr]

the latest update according to Thai Enquirer is 2 dead (a Chinese national and a Myanmar national) and 5 wounded

The suspect is a student at a private school in Phaya Thai.

[reader]

From the Thai Enquirer

Latest Updates on Victims and Investigation

Here is what we know so far from the shooting at Siam Paragon in Bangkok on October 3:

Casualties and Injuries:

• Two females have been killed, one Chinese national and one Myanmar national.
• Five people were injured, with two in critical condition, one of whom was shot in the head.
• The injured include one Chinese national, one Laotian, and three Thais.
• According to Siam Paragon, one of the injured is their security guard.
• Out of the seven people who were shot, six were female.

The Shooter:

• The shooter is a 14-year-old Thai male who attended Essence School, located at SiamScape Building, not far from where the shooting took place.
• According to his parents, the shooter lives alone.
• The national police chief, Pol Gen Torsak Sukvimol, said the shooter claimed to have heard voices telling him to commit the crime.
• Dr. Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, director-general of the Department of Medical Services, said the shooter has been treated for a mental health problem at the Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health since February and had received treatment at another institution before.
• The gun used in the crime was a plastic blank gun that had been modified to shoot real rounds.
• The police are still investigating the source of the gun and who modified it. Some reports suggest that the shooter acquired the gun and bullets online for around 10,000 baht, but this has not been confirmed by the police.
• Pol Maj Gen Nakarin Sukontawit, commander of the Metropolitan Police Division 6, said the motive is still unknown, as the shooter was not in the right mental condition to provide a coherent statement last night and this morning.
• The police have pressed five charges against the shooter, including premeditated murder, attempted murder, possession of a firearm without a permit, carrying a firearm in a public place without a permit, and shooting in public without a permit. Additional charges are pending for the bullets recovered at the shooter’s residence in Bang Khae district.
• Pol Maj Gen Nakarin said the police are also investigating the parents of the shooter to determine whether they violated the Child Protection Act. Sorawit Limparangsri, spokesman of the Court of Justice, stated that the parents might have also violated Section 429 of the Civil and Commercial Code, which holds parents or guardians of a minor who committed a crime accountable unless they can demonstrate proper care and supervision.
• Unconfirmed news reports suggest that the murder was premeditated because the shooter concealed the weapon in his bag before entering a restroom on the M floor of the department store, where he changed his clothes before committing the crime.
• A video from the shooter’s phone showed him practicing reloading a gun, and he sent a photo of the gun’s magazine to one of his friends before committing the crime.
• A circulating video shows that he had been practicing shooting at a shooting range before committing the crime.
• According to unconfirmed news reports, messages from his phone indicate that he was under pressure from his mother due to his low academic performance in school. He had been sending photos of himself holding a gun or shooting at the shooting range to his parents.

Responses:

• A command center has been established at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for coordination, as some of the casualties and injured individuals are foreigners.
• The Department of Mental Health has dispatched members of the Mental Health Crisis Assessment and Treatment Team to the shooter, the victims, and the victims’ families. A team is being set up at Siam Paragon to provide advice to witnesses on how to cope mentally with the situation.
• Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society is currently exploring the implementation of an alert system to notify the public about emergency situations in the future. He also said the government plans to tighten controls on the online sale of blank guns to prevent minors from accessing them.
• PM Srettha personally spoke to the Chinese, Myanmar, and Laotian ambassadors to inform them of the situation updates and convey apologies for the incident.
• Their Majesties the King and Queen have taken all the victims injured in the shooting under their royal patronage.
• Siam Paragon’s staff have received praise from National Police Chief Pol. Gen. Torsak and PM Srettha for adhering to their training during an active shooting incident. They assisted customers in hiding and escaping from the hazardous areas, which managed to minimize the number of casualties and injuries, Pol. Gen. Torsak said.

[10tazione]

Why does a 14 year old live alone?

[fedssocr]

I think that's my biggest question as well

[reader]

From The Nation

Tough new policy will not allow public to own even BB guns

Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announced a strong gun policy on Thursday, saying that only officials would be authorised to possess firearms, and the public would not be allowed to own them – not even imitation weapons like BB guns.

The deputy premier on Thursday presided over a meeting to review the laws governing gun ownership in Thailand, following the deadly shooting in Bangkok on Tuesday that took the lives of two foreigners and left five others injured.

Several senior officials, including the director-general of the Department of Provincial Administration Attasit Samphanrat, attended the meeting.

Anutin, who is also the Interior Minister, said that he had decided to entrust Attasit with looking into the rules on the use of firearms and other weapons and reporting back to him to determine which ones needed to be revised.

He said he would not allow ordinary people to get a permit to own a firearm, not even imitation ones like BB guns or blank guns, as they were dangerous and needed to be regulated,

 

“Only officials would be permitted [to possess firearms],” he said.

The 14-year-old shooter reportedly used a modified blank pistol. Police investigation revealed that the teen also owned other types of weapons, like an M-16 gun and ammo.

Anutin noted that anyone under the age of 18 should not be allowed to participate in shooting activities.

Anyone using a gun at a shooting camp would have to leave the gun there. No one would be allowed to carry weapons outside the camp, he said.

 

[PeterRS]

And I wonder what Anutin plans to do about the 10.3 million guns which were held mostly in private hands, legally and illegally, as reported a year ago? Will there be a government buy-back programme as in Australia? Or is this just one issue which has been conveniently put on the back burner?

[a-447]

Are the authorities investigating the apparent lax security procedures at Siam Paragon?

CCTV would show whether or not security guards were performing their duties at the entrance. SP is one of my favourite places and over all the the years I've been visiting no one has ever checked my bag - I've either walked straight past the guards or there haven't been any on duty.

No doubt security will now be strengthened but as usual, it's after the horse has bolted.

[10tazione]

4 hours ago, a-447 said:

No doubt security will now be strengthened

If there was tight security at Siam Paragon, that wouldn't prevent that sort of crime, it only would change the location. There are many places in Bangkok, outdoors, with big crouds ...

[PeterRS]

4 hours ago, a-447 said:

Are the authorities investigating the apparent lax security procedures at Siam Paragon?

As I posted on another thread, I was at Paragon last weekend. There was no security whatever at the entrance near Siam Centre. I have also been in Silom Complex with no security at 4 entrances. None of these entrances/exits had metal detectors either. Some years ago and also during covid there was security in shopping malls. But it is certainly not common now and I do not think there is really any need for it. Paragon would require  a lot of security personnel if it was to cover all the entrances. And what would they do? Search everyone? Insist on backpacks being opened if the metal detector pinged?

Some time ago the MRT had guards for security checks prior to entrance to stations. But the checks on backpacks were laughable.

[a-447]

Security can't check every single bag but putting them through a scanner and patrons walking through security gates would be better than nothing at all. It would have picked up the bullets the boy was carrying.

They can do it quickly and efficiently at airports so I don't see the problem.

[reader]

Security can be beefed up but can not eliminate incidents like this. A determined assailant will find a way to elude it.

The media and government tend to play down events like this that have been occurring in the south of the country for years. Most are directed at police, military and teachers but that doesn't keep others from being killed and maimed on a regular basis.

Tightening control of the sales of weapons has been a subject long given lip service. And Although some legislation may emerge from this incident, interest will fade as time passes.

Bangkok is a mega city and top world destination. Tourists aren't going to abandon it no more than they did in the wake of the Erawan Shrine bombing in 2015 or in 2010 when Central World went up in flames.

 

People have astonishingly short memories. Lumpinee Park was an armed camp 13 years ago but it was business as usual on Soi4, Patpong and Twilight.

For better or worse, what happened this week will, too, soon be forgotten. Tourists will continue to flock to Bangkok as they always have. Many of us will be among them.

=========================

Also soon to be forgotten:

From The Nation

The teenaged shooter who went on a fatal shooting spree on Tuesday had practised at an Army shooting range for over 20 times, police disclosed on Friday.

Pol Maj-General Theeradej Thammasuthee, commander of the Metropolitan Police Bureau’s investigation division, confirmed that the 14-year-old had practised at the Territorial Defence Shooting Range in Bangkok’s Phra Nakhon district.

“The suspect said during police questioning that on the day before the fatal attack, he had practised shooting for more than 20 times,” the senior officer said.

He noted that the shooting range is for members only and any service user aged below 18 must be accompanied by an adult member.

On Tuesday afternoon, a 14-year-old boy armed with a modified blank gun fired shots at people in Siam Paragon, leaving two people dead and five others injured.

A video clip being circulated on social media appears to show the teenaged shooting suspect firing a round of shots at shooting targets in a place later identified as the Territorial Defence Shooting Range.

The Royal Thai Army, which runs the shooting range, found that the teenaged shooter was not a member, so it was possible he came with an adult member, a source said on Friday.

An examination of video recordings from the shooting range’s security cameras over the past 10 days did not find the shooting suspect, according to the source.

Staff members of the shooting range were instructed to gather information about the suspect’s use of the facility, according to the source.

The Army has provided relevant information to police investigators working on the case, the source said.

In a related development, the Juvenile Detention Centre has sent the shooting suspect to the Galya Rajanagarindra Institute for psychiatric evaluation and treatment at the suggestion of a doctor, Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong said on Friday.

He declined to discuss the nature of the boy’s mental issues, saying that disclosing details of health conditions was against the boy’s personal rights.

According to a source familiar with the matter, the teenager was sent to the Galya Rajanagarindra Institute on Thursday afternoon after the Juvenile Detention Centre concluded that a specialist’s evaluation of his mental health was needed as this was a serious criminal case.

 

 

 

[vinapu]

9 hours ago, 10tazione said:

If there was tight security at Siam Paragon, that wouldn't prevent that sort of crime, it only would change the location. There are many places in Bangkok, outdoors, with big crowds ...

You are right. It's hard to envision airport type security  in what it's just a shopping mall. They can't built fortress around everything where public gathers. Even in airports there are a lot of crowded areas with basically free access

[reader]

From Thai PBS World

A woman injured in the Siam Paragon mass shooting on October 3^rd died at about 2am this morning (Friday), having been in coma since she was admitted to a hospital 10 days ago.

The passing of Penphiwan has brought the death toll in the shooting to three. The two others who were Chinese and Myanmar nationals. Five more were injured, including Penphiwan.

According to an X post, by user “songdoubles” today, Penphiwan, aka “Noong Ning”, had been on life support since her admission, but her body had responded to medication.

Unfortunately, she developed more infections, according to the post, which also noted that the parents of the suspected shooter had visited and apologised the victim’s mother last Saturday.