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04-10-2023
BANGKOK: Police in Thailand say they have arrested a teenage suspected gunman after a shooting at an upscale shopping centre in the capital, Bangkok, that emergency services said had killed three people and wounded four others.
The Metropolitan Police Detective Department said on its Facebook page on Tuesday that a 14-year-old suspected gunman had been arrested and was being questioned over the incident at the Siam Paragon mall.
Emergency services shared an image of a police officer apprehending and handcuffing an individual lying face down on the floor.
The Central Investigation Bureau had earlier posted a grainy image on its Facebook page of an individual they said was the gunman, dressed in khaki cargo pants and a baseball cap.
Unverified videos on social media showed scenes of chaos, with people, including children, running out of the doors of the mall while security guards ushered them out.
One of the videos showed people taking cover in a darkened room inside a restaurant, while live television showed long queues of traffic outside the mall in torrential rain.
Chinese tourist Liu Shiying told The Associated Press news agency that she saw people running and saying someone had opened fire. She said she heard gunshots and an alarm ringing out and, that the lights in the mall went out.
“We’re temporarily hiding. Who dares to go out?” she said while taking cover. She was later able to leave.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin expressed concern over the incident at the shopping centre, which is among the best-known in Bangkok and is popular with locals and tourists.
“I am aware of the shooting event at Siam Paragon and have ordered the police to investigate. I am most worried about public safety,” he posted on X social media.
Gun violence is not uncommon in Thailand, although mass shootings are rare.
A former police officer killed 22 children in a nursery last year during a gun and knife attack, while in 2020, a soldier shot and killed at least 29 people and wounded 57 in a rampage that spanned four locations in and around the northeastern Thai city of Nakhon Ratchasima. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
