At least six people have been killed by a 14-year-old student who opened fire at a school in Thailand on Friday before killing himself, authorities said.
Shooting at Debsirin Nonthaburi School
The shooting took place on Friday morning at Debsirin Nonthaburi School, a secondary school with around 3,000 pupils, in Nonthaburi province, just north of Bangkok. Emergency services responded to the scene as terrified students were evacuated from classrooms, with dramatic footage showing children running from the school grounds while staff tried to lead them to safety.
Thailand’s Poh Teck Tung Foundation said officers were ‘urgently evacuating students from the area’ as the incident unfolded. Lt. Col. Dechrapee Kongdee Nonthaburi, the Provincial Police Commander, confirmed the casualties to Reuters and said the suspected gunman had committed suicide.
Investigation and reaction
The motive for the shooting has not yet been confirmed and police have launched an investigation. One 18-year-old student said that he initially thought there were firecrackers going off or someone banging an object. ‘I didn’t think it was a gun at first,’ he said. ‘There were many shots: bang bang bang. Then it went quiet. Then it started again.’
In photos circulated by emergency workers, students streamed out of the Debsirin Nonthaburi School, on the northwestern outskirts of Bangkok, as ambulances operated. In one photo, one person can be seen lying down on a stretcher outside an ambulance, while another is attended to by a medic.
School details and context
In the 2025 academic year, the school had an enrollment of around 3,100 students and 147 teachers, according to district authorities. This comes after another fatal school shooting in February, when a teacher was killed and a student injured after a gunman opened fire at a school in Hat Yai.
School shootings are relatively rare in Thailand, although the country has one of the highest levels of civilian gun ownership in Southeast Asia. According to the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey, there are more than 10 million civilian-owned firearms in Thailand, equivalent to around 15 guns for every 100 people.
In 2022, Thailand was left reeling after the country’s deadliest mass shooting, when 36 people – including 24 children – were killed at a childcare centre in Nong Bua Lamphu.
