“TRAINED FOR A LONG TIME”
Purin Khumchoo, 17, said he was among the students who had nearly been shot.
“He was my junior, but I had a feeling that he was a troubled kid. My group of friends who knew him said he was interested in the FBI and guns, and that he was bullied by many other students,” Purin told AFP outside his school.
“When I saw him aiming the gun at me, I thought he looked very professional, as if he had been trained for a long time.”
Photos published by local media show the suspect wearing a purple school uniform and carrying a black cross-body bag, with several bullet casings visible on the ground.
Education Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong pledged to provide mental health assistance to students and ramp up security measures at educational institutions.
“We haven’t checked whether students have brought weapons to school. Our level of security is not that tight,” he told reporters at the school.
Thongchai Thanakat, a motorcycle-taxi driver who has worked in the area for 20 years, said he was waiting to pick up passengers outside the school when he heard more than 10 gunshots and saw a stream of students rushing out.
“Some of them weren’t even wearing shoes,” he told AFP.
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