Just about a week ago, a tragedy happened on 8 February 2020 night: a soldier from the Royal Thai Army shot and killed his commanding officer in his camp, stole some weapons and drove a military vehicle to the Terminal 21 Korat shopping mall
He then opened fire at shoppers.
As he did that, he allegedly posted updates on Facebook and even shared a livestream of his doings.
He then took 16 people hostage inside the mall, and eventually, he was killed after a shootout.
29 people were killed, including 3 policemen.
Known as the deadliest mass shooting in Thailand’s history, it’s said that it all started after a property dispute with his commander, though there could have been some underlying reason.
And less than a week later, there’s another shooting in Bangkok, but fortunately there’s no reported injury.
Man Shot at Least 40 Times from His Handgun
This morning (14 February 2020), shots were heard coming out from a sports clothing shop on Chula 10 Road in Bangkok’s Pathumwan district.
According to reports, the man, 44-year-old Ekkachai Charueksilp, had initially fired into the sky.
After that, he started to spray his shots on pedestrians in the area.
Thankfully, all pedestrians managed to scurry to safety and the police immediately cordoned off the alley of the shop.
The elite SWAT team of the Royal Thai Police, Arintharat 26, managed to apprehend the gunman at about 10:45am today.
By the way, Arintharat 26 is also the team that took down the previous gunman in Terminal 21 Korat.
The man had allegedly had an argument with his family before leaving home with a handgun. His motive is still unknown, though it’s said that he was stressed out by family problems.
Surely that doesn’t justify firing shots at strangers bah?
I bet you didn’t know this since we’ve all been to Thailand so many times before: firearms are apparently legal in Thailand but only licensed gun owners can lawfully have them.
