A relative of one of the teachers who died this Friday in the shooting at a high school north of Bangkok considered that, before the attack, “there were no warning signs, everything was normal,” recalling the hours before the attack that caused seven dead and injured.
“There was no problem (in his teaching). Everything was normal. There was nothing out of the ordinary,” said a close relative of one of the deceased, the school vice principal, from the scene to the media.
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“There were no warning signs,” said the source, who preferred to remain anonymous, adding that his relative had been working at the center for a long time, the Debsirin Nonthaburi School, which remains evacuated and under the protection of the Police and Ministry of Education staff after the shooting.
According to preliminary Police figures, the shooting caused seven deaths at the school, including the alleged attacker, who is believed to have committed suicide, three teachers, and three students, as well as 15 injured people, two seriously.
For its part, the Ministry of the Interior speaks of five dead, not counting the (alleged) perpetrator, and points out that “all were adults, school teachers,” in data that could vary.
Likewise, the Thai Deputy Minister of the Interior, Polapee Suwunchwee, told the media at the scene that the suspect’s grandparents were found dead in their home, and it is presumed that the incident started there, where the alleged perpetrator lived.
The school is a prestigious educational center located about 15 kilometers northwest of the Thai capital and dedicated to students between 12 and 18 years old. It belongs to one of the most prestigious and oldest public school networks in the country, attended by high-ranking political figures.
Backpacks and shoes still remain abandoned on the premises after students had to run out when the shooting began, around 10:00 local time (07:00 GMT). Meanwhile, Police officers mark the bullet casings scattered as part of the investigation with markers.
In the middle of the operation, a woman broke down crying and hugged several teachers and emergency team members. After staying with them for a few minutes, she was accompanied to an ambulance.
Initial information indicates that the firearm used in the shooting was a compact pistol registered in the name of the suspect’s grandfather, a former teacher – it is unknown if from the attacked center -, said the Thai Deputy Minister of the Interior, a country with a high rate of firearms and lax regulations for their acquisition.
“I would like stricter measures to be taken, because an incident like this should not have happened,” the relative of the deceased told the press.
In similar terms, the teacher Mei, 45, who with tears in her eyes told EFE that she never thought “this could happen in this school.”
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