Thai soldier kills 26 in rampage
THAILAND - A Thai soldier angry over a land deal went on a shooting spree that killed at least 26 people, most of them in a shopping mall in the northeast that he fled to in a stolen Humvee after shooting his commanding officer, officials said. Thai security forces shot and killed the rogue soldier on Sunday morning after an overnight standoff at the Terminal 21 shopping center in the northeastern Thai city of Nakhon Ratchasima.
The soldier was armed with an assault weapon and ammunition stolen from the army base’s arsenal, an official said. He initially posted written messages on Facebook during the attack before his account was shut down by the company. Hundreds of shoppers fled the mall in groups crouching low, and the police and army launched several rescues during the more than 12hour standoff, with armed forces at one point emerging at a run carrying small children. Dozens of terrified shoppers were evacuated from a Thai mall early Feb. 9 as armed police said they had “taken control” of the ground floor of the complex from a ‘soldier’ who killed at least 26 and injured over 30. “I heard so many gunshots. He was shooting everywhere and his shots were very precise,” said the man, identified as “Diaw.”
CCTV footage from inside the mall posted on social media showed the gunman dressed in black and wearing a mask, his gun slung over his shoulder with no sign of other people around.
Police named the shooter as 32-year-old soldier Jakrapanth Thomma. He reportedly worked at an army base close to Nakhon Ratchasima, which is about 250 km from the capital Bangkok. Thai media said the suspect was a sharp shooter and gun enthusiast who often posed with weapons on social media. The killings began at around 3 p.m. on Saturday when the soldier opened fire in a house before moving to an army camp and then to the mall. “It was a personal conflict ... over a house deal,”
Prime Minister Prayuth Chanocha told reporters on Sunday from Nakhon Ratchasima after traveling there to meet with wounded survivors. Prayuth added that the conflict was with a relative of the soldier’s commanding officer. The commanding officer was one of the people reported killed before the soldier moved on to the shopping mall and began shooting.
At some point during the day, the soldier raided the army camp’s armory to arm himself, said Lt. General Thanya Kiatsarn, Commander of the Second Area Command. “He attacked the guard to the weapon arsenal, who later died, and he stole an official jeep and an HK33 gun and an amount of ammunition to do what he did,” Thanya said.
(Reuters)