At least five people have been killed in Thailand's deadliest shooting in a number of years.
The Thai teenager killed at least five people and himself at a school outside Bangkok after fatally shooting his grandparents, the police said according to RTE.
According to reports, those killed at the school were all teachers and staff. Police said the 14-year-old student fired at least 26 rounds from a gun that belonged to his grandfather, while an additional 34 rounds of ammunition were recovered.
The attack is the latest in a series of high-profile shootings in Thailand in recent years. According to a 2017 estimate by the Small Arms Survey, the country has the highest rate of civilian gun ownership in Southeast Asia and one of the highest per-capita rates in Asia.
One 18-year-old student said via RTE that he initially thought that the gunshots were "firecrackers going off or someone banging an object."
"I didn't think it was a gun at first. There were many shots: bang, bang, bang. Then it went quiet. Then it started again," he said according to RTE.
Education Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong told reporters that the motive for shooting is currently being investigated.
This is the second school shooting Thailand has seen this year, in February a teacher and was killed and a student was injured in the south of the country.
In 2022, the worst mass killing by a single perpetrator in Thailand was recorded. 36 people were killed when a former policeman ran amok in a three-hour gun-and-knife attack in the northeast .
The Small Arms Survey estimated that Thailand had around 10.3 million civilian-owned firearms, equivalent to about 15 guns for every 100 residents.
