14-year-old arrested less than an hour after rampage inside Siam Paragon
PUBLISHED : 3 Oct 2023 at 16:50
UPDATED : 3 Oct 2023 at 18:36
Police have arrested a 14-year-old boy who went on a shooting rampage inside Siam Paragon shopping mall, killing three people and injuring four others on Tuesday afternoon.
The incident that took place around 4.20pm sent hundreds of people fleeing from the mall in Pathum Wan district on Rama I Road in central Bangkok. Witnesses said that more than 10 rounds of gunshots were heard.
Yuthana Srettanan, director of Erawan Emergency Center, confirmed the toll of dead and wounded in a message to reporters.
Of the injured, three people including a foreigner were admitted to King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital and one was being treated at Police General Hospital.
A police special operations team dispatched to the scene pursued the assailant and managed to corner him at the nearby Siam Kempinski Hotel Bangkok around 5.10pm. He laid down his weapon and surrendered without a struggle.
Video and still images posted on social media showed a male in a black shirt and camouflage pants carrying a handgun.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said he had been briefed about a “shooting” and was monitoring developments. The national police chief, Pol Gen Torsak Sukvimol, was on his way to the scene.
The entrances and exits of the mall were closed, according to local reports. The BTS Skyway was also closed and the Skytrain was not stopping at the Siam BTS station.
An image from video posted on social media shows shoppers fleeing Siam Paragon around 4.30pm on Tuesday after reports of gunshots inside. (Video by Chai via Muang Prakarn V2 Facebook page)
The shooting comes just days before the one-year anniversary of one of the bloodiest days in recent Thai history, when an ex-police officer armed with a knife and gun attacked a nursery, murdering 24 children and 12 adults.
Thailand has high rates of gun ownership and has a long and violent history of firearm incidents, both small and large.
In 2020, a former army officer went on a rampage in a shopping mall in Nakhon Ratchasima, murdering 29 people and wounding scores more.
CCTV footage shows police apprehending a 14-year-old suspected gunman on the third floor of Siam Kempinski Hotel Bangkok, adjacent to Siam Paragon, on Tuesday afternoon.
