14-year-old opens fire in Siam Paragon shopping center in Bangkok: two dead and 5 injured
The perpetrator is handcuffed (Photo: Central Investigation Bureau Facebook)
On Tuesday, October 3, a 14-year-old boy with long hair, wearing a tight black shirt and camouflage pants, committed an attack in central Bangkok. He opened fire at the Paragon department store in the Siam Square district with a 9mm Glock 19 pistol. Two people were killed and five others were injured.
The two fatalities were foreign women: a Chinese woman was fatally shot in the G-level parking lot and a Myanmar woman was shot twice in the back and later died in hospital.
The incident happened around 16:40 PM when the mall was full of tourists and shoppers. After the shooting, visitors to the shopping center were evacuated. As a precaution, the door to the Royal Paragon Hall on the fifth floor was closed. People were later evacuated gradually when it became known that the gunman had fled to the Kempinski Hotel.
The situation ended at 17:09 PM when the gunman put down his weapon and surrendered. He was arrested by police on the third floor of the Kempinski Hotel. He told the police that someone had ordered him to shoot.
Crimes involving firearms are not rare in Thailand, mainly due to the high number of citizens with access to firearms. According to the Small Arms Survey, there were approximately 2022 million firearms in Thailand in 10,3, the highest number in the ASEAN region, which ranks Thailand 13th globally. In addition, in 2022, Thailand recorded 2.804 firearm-related deaths, giving a mortality rate of 3,91 per 100.000 inhabitants and placing the country 15th worldwide.
Although shootings are common, mass shooting incidents are rare in Thailand. The most tragic incident occurred on October 6, 2022, when a 34-year-old police officer shot and killed 38 people in a daycare center, the majority of whom were children. The deadliest shopping center shooting incident happened on February 8, 2020 at the Terminal 21 shopping center in Nakhon Ratchasima province, when a soldier killed 30 people.
Source: Khaosod English
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Known as Khun Peter (62), lives alternately in Apeldoorn and Pattaya. In a relationship with Kanchana for 14 years. Not yet retired, have my own company, something with insurance. Crazy about animals, especially dogs and music.
Enough hobbies, but unfortunately little time: writing for Thailandblog, fitness, health and nutrition, shooting sports, chatting with friends and some other oddities.
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What inspires a 14 year old child to do something like that? Incomprehensible... hopefully we will find out more one of these days, but still, sad!
It should not be allowed and yet this will happen again tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, in the name of Allah and/or in the name of Cocaine and/or in the name of certain games…. you name it.
One could say that our society is failing, but one cannot control 8 billion people and certainly not as long as one can simply obtain weapons and/or drugs and one allows fanatical indoctrination.
Imagine your son, your child doing something like that... I can't even think about it...
I feel sorry for the victims, but also for the parents and yes, also for the child himself, although I obviously do not condone his actions... boy, boy, boy... what have you done / who or what led you to this?
But…. I will especially continue to show shooting soap actors on daytime TV so that children can clearly see how it is done...
Martin, I have heard what you write since the 50s when TV emerged. It really doesn't work that way; take that violence off the TV and they watch their cell phone or go to the cinema.
It is the job of educators to show children the difference; Unfortunately, in many families parenting fails because parents are too busy or are messed up themselves. And I have the impression that more and more people are coming into the upstairs room with a loose thread... You can't stop a madman.
I read that this boy allowed himself to be stirred up by a madman. I can't imagine a Thai kid coming up with that on his own; this is not a USA where children are given a weapon after breastfeeding... But alas, the damage has been done; you can't reverse the murders...
undoubtedly contributes to this, as do Playstation / computer shooting games 🙁
Various studies have already established that violent games do not make someone more violent. For example, it can be a good way to get rid of frustrations. Something similar will probably also apply to TV. So nothing surprises me in (fighting) sports or shooting sports. A normal person doesn't get the urge to do something about it from someone else.
But someone who is not completely well in the upper room, yes, he can see a game, film, news report or seeing/participating in something with violence as inspiration… In short: copycat behavior. I think you can only do something about that by improving society as a whole (access to care, alertness by third parties, future prospects, etc.) and even then…
Dear Rob,
You write that various studies have already established that violent games do not make someone more violent, but have you ever looked into who finances those studies?
The lobby of this billion-dollar game-producing industry is enormous, so they are happy to conduct such studies in-house (as is done in almost all industries). The butcher who can inspect his own meat 😉
The conclusion that it can be a good way to get rid of frustrations, for example, comes from the same institutions, and is a legitimation for the sale of these types of games.
Dear Marcel,
These are studies that are reproducible and verifiable by others. And this has also been done by several independent bodies. This is how actual scientific research works.
Funded studies that start with a conclusion are almost never reproducible and verifiable and therefore not worth much. I'm not saying this has never been done in this case, but there are plenty of independent studies showing exactly the same thing.
If you want to make such a claim that all these studies were done under the guise of 'We at Toilet Duck…', you have to prove it with more than your own gut feelings.
Having said all that, I sincerely hope that these types of terrible events will not happen again.
Moderator: too many typos in the text.
What makes me positive about this horrific incident is that no opinions, judgments or condemnations are shared on this blog.
Terrible of course, a solution will not come easily. After a soldier shot dead about 1 people a few years ago, little or nothing has changed. Partly, of course, because there are still many weapons in circulation that were already purchased before the strict regulations.
What strikes me: the Prime Minister and TAT are quick to express their condolences and say that this could affect tourism (differently). Personally, I don't think anyone considering a holiday will be influenced by some sad incidents, possibly if the country gets a reputation for being dangerous due to shooting incidents (think of various countries in South and North America), but even there many people still want to. Perhaps a small proportion of potential tourists will stay away from countries with a reputation for frequent shooting incidents. But someone who thinks “I'm going on holiday to… hmm… Thailand? Yes… Oh no, there was a shooting incident there last year,… then we'll go elsewhere.” I doubt that…
The government/prime minister, TAT etc are of course smart people so they probably know better than a simpleton like me. Or would it be mainly for domestic consumption? Have a talk that they are really going to tackle this and that this should not harm the country and so on, so don't worry Thai citizen and don't be angry with us, we will solve this as we always promise...
Chris, this touches your field a bit, what do you think?
A terrible event.
This young man has completely wasted his future by shooting around.
In my opinion a copycat (cap with the American flag).
And how does a 14 year old get a gun?!
Lots of strength for all victims.
That the PM and TAT reacted so quickly also has to do with many other things, after all, in general, and not only for tourist-financial-economic reasons, people were shocked that in the heart of Bangkok a 14-year-old under the influence of auditory hallucinations started shooting around him. Just think: a child, with psychiatric problems, with absent parents, in possession of weapons and large amounts of ammunition, in riot gear, through the security gates of a large shopping mall, etc. etc. See https://www.thaienquirer.com/ where penetrating analyzes can be read about how Thailand is still mentally affected.
I refer comments about the negative influence of games and soaps to the land of fables. That is all long outdated. The claim that the gaming industry manipulates scientific research makes no sense and is far too primitive. https://www.ggznieuws.nl/effect-gewelddadige-games-op-sociale-vaardigheden-adolescenten/
Much more relevant is to think about the real reasons and backgrounds why there are still millions of weapons available in Thailand, how it is that it is common practice in Thailand to settle conflicts by force of arms, and why there is a thoughtlessness bordering on indifference in Thailand. It takes some intellect, but in the long run it is more stable than simply positing something in the first instance. Also remember that following the shooting at the childcare center in Nong Bua last October, a bill was submitted to collect unregistered weapons. That proposal was never put to a vote. Says something about the lack of necessity felt in political Thailand.
In Thailand there are a lot of weapons in circulation, so it is not that difficult to get them, so maybe comparable to the USA, in Thailand there are also a lot of murders, it is terrible what this guy has on his conscience, he will not be aware of his deed, I think this crime occurs worldwide, not only in the USA.
The big problem is that it is quickly forgotten, and there are simply no solutions.
Well Rob. I'm not a psychologist or psychiatrist, so I don't know the ins and outs of it.
There is very little that can be done about attacks by mentally disturbed people other than locking them up in institutions where expert staff have learned to deal with these types of outbursts. (and where there are no firearms)
Let's look at the ordinary world and ordinary people. I think there are two things at play: the individual aspect (short-tempered character, loneliness, seeking attention) and a situational component. By this I mean the (changed and sometimes rapidly changing) circumstances in society.
I don't think that playing war games on the computer is a reason for more appreciation of violence and aggression of the player. If that were the case, there would be a lot more shootings and there would be a lot more enthusiasm to get a job in the army. I do think that all those war games lead to the players finding violence more normal.
Another situational component is the accessibility of weapons and especially firearms. It is not surprising that there are so many fatal shootings in the USA. That has much less to do with the character of the average American and everything to do with the ease with which firearms can be purchased there. In Thailand many have an illegal weapon and no action is taken against it. In short: the Thais think it will be tolerated. And then the weapon is used and then they are exposed. In parentheses; In almost all markets in this country you can buy extremely sharp (mapping) knives with which you can easily kill someone, but that's besides the point. But a Dutchman with a short fuse has to make much more effort to obtain a firearm in his own country than an American.
I think that despite all the good words, the Thai government does not have the will to really tackle firearms ownership. If one really wants to, measures can be devised (which have worked in other countries and which must therefore be monitored) to reduce firearms ownership. It is very sad, but after the funerals people simply return to the order of the day.
Dear Chris, I agree with your response, but I was actually referring to the hotel workers who trip over each other and that this should not affect tourism. I personally doubt that this will affect tourism, but who am I? Tourism was/is your thing, that's why. Do you think this will affect tourism? And that those hot guys make apologies to ambassadors and on social media, which should miraculously help limit that damage...
What doesn't help: I noticed last month that there is NO crew anymore at the security checks of Siam Center, Siam Paragon and Central World. The detection gates were sometimes still on. Anyway: anyone who does a little research can bypass any security in the first place. To illustrate, at Central World not every entrance/exit used to be manned with security guards and gates. In any case, I don't think you can make society one hundred percent safe. We have to (learn to) live with the risks that we as humanity have created ourselves.