Five school staff killed in Thailand shooting as 14-year-old turns gun on himself

A 14-year-old student shot and killed five staff members at Debsirin Nonthaburi School in Nonthaburi province, northwest of Bangkok, on Friday before taking his own life, police confirmed. The teenager had earlier killed his grandparents at their home, then opened fire at the school with a handgun believed to have been taken from a family member. Officers recovered 26 spent casings at the scene and a further 34 live rounds.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul called the attack "a terrible incident" that "should never have happened" and ordered officials to support the victims and their families. Royal Thai Police spokesperson Trairong Piwpan said the motive remains under investigation.

Pattern of violence

Friday's shooting follows a similar attack in February when a teenage gunman killed a school principal and wounded two students in southern Thailand. That suspect had used a police officer's service pistol after stabbing the officer and stealing the weapon. In 2022, a former policeman armed with a gun and knife murdered 24 children and 12 adults at a nursery in the north, one of the deadliest attacks in the country's history.

Gun law impasse

Successive governments have vowed to restrict access to firearms, but progress has been limited by cultural attachment to gun ownership and lobbying from pro-gun groups. The current administration faces renewed pressure to act, though any legislative change would take months to implement and would not address the millions of weapons already in private hands.

Parents gathered outside the school gates on Friday afternoon, many in tears, as police cordoned off the campus. Traffic in the surrounding area came to a standstill as families collected children who had sheltered in classrooms during the attack.

"It's such a terrible incident. It should never have happened. How could this happen in our country?"

Anutin told reporters at Government House in Bangkok. The prime minister did not announce specific policy measures but said relevant agencies had been directed to prevent a recurrence.

What happens next

Police will continue investigating how the teenager obtained the weapon and whether any adults bear legal responsibility for failing to secure it. The education ministry is expected to review security protocols at schools nationwide, though previous reviews after the 2022 nursery massacre resulted in few concrete changes. For now, the community in Nonthaburi begins mourning five educators killed in a workplace that should have been safe.