At Least 8 Dead, Including 14-Year-Old Shooter, After Teen Kills Grandparents Before Opening Fire at School
Several people have been killed after a teenager opened fire at a school in Thailand.The incident occurred on Friday, Aug. 7 at the Debsirin Nonthaburi School in Nonthaburi province on the outskirts of the capital city of Bangkok, the Associated Press reported, citing Royal Thai Police spokesperson Trairong Piwpan.
A 14-year-old boy is reported to have killed his grandparents at home before heading to the school just after 10 a.m. local time, per the BBC.
Local police previously said on Facebook that there had been reports of seven deaths, including the perpetrator, while multiple people had been injured in the attack.
The BBC has since reported that five victims, all of them teachers, had been killed at the school, citing health minister Pattana Promphat. This brings the death toll to eight, including the suspected shooter.
Authorities are pictured at the scene after the shooting in Nonthaburi province, Thailand on Aug. 7, 2026.Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP via Getty
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Emergency worker Kiatikhun Verapongpradith, 47, confirmed that students had also been shot during the attack, telling Reuters that they’d treated students with injuries in the chest, back and arms.
Thailand’s Ministry of Health said on Facebook that 22 people had been hospitalized following the incident. Previous reports suggested that 15 had been taken to the hospital, two of whom were in critical condition, per the BBC.
Meanwhile, the AP reported that as many as nine were believed to have been seriously injured, citing Promphat.
The shooter was found to have used a 9mm firearm in the attack, believed to have been owned by a family member, police said in the translated Facebook post.
The gun reportedly belonged to the suspected shooter’s grandfather, and the teenager was allegedly found with at least 34 additional ammunition rounds, the BBC reported, citing police.
Authorities are pictured at the scene after the shooting in Nonthaburi province, Thailand on Aug. 7, 2026.RUNGROJ YONGRIT/EPA/Shutterstock
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A witness recalled how students had hidden inside a classroom after hearing gunshots from another building, the AP stated. Police officers then helped them leave.
A female eighth grader from the school told the BBC that she’d been standing in front of one of the teachers when they got shot.
“I couldn’t see anything but a [cloud] of dust. He walked from room to room. My desk was very close to the teacher. I had to climb over the school fence to escape with other friends,” she told the outlet.
Evidence gathered so far suggests that the suspected shooter was an avid gamer and lived with his grandparents, the BBC reported, citing Thailand’s deputy interior minister Polapee Suwanchawee. After shooting the victims, he turned a gun on himself and died on the way to the hospital, the outlet stated.
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A 31-year-old teacher, who hasn’t been named, recalled hearing gunshots from a building where the seventh to ninth graders studied, per the BBC.
“Then I saw pupils run out, screaming. I asked them what was going on. They said ‘there’s a shooting!’ “ he told the outlet.
“One of teachers killed, a Thai-language teacher, was my friend. She was my age. We went to this school together as students. Then we both became teachers at this school,” the teacher added to the BBC.
Thailand’s Ministry of Health extended its “deepest condolences to the families of the deceased and to all those injured in the incident,” per a translated Facebook post.
PEOPLE has contacted the Ministry of Health for additional information.
The shooting comes after one person died and two were injured after a 17-year-old stole a gun from police in February before opening fire at a public high school in southern Thailand, the AP reported.
