The co-educational state school, which has about 3,000 students enrolled aged 12 to 18, said all classes would be suspended between Aug 10 and Aug 14 and school staff were instructed to work from home during that time.
A few mourners laid flowers Saturday morning at the school’s gate, where a few police officers could be seen.
Charin Siriananchai brought his two sons, ages 9 and 6, to pay their respects. He said while his sons do not study here, he lives in the neighbourhood and drives past this school almost every day, often stopping to allow students to cross the road.
“Everyone was saddened and shocked, because it was unexpected that this would happen in Thailand, and also it’s quite a great loss,” he said.
Some parents also came with their children to collect their belongings left behind after the shooting. A father, who declined to identify himself, said his son, who was at the school during the shooting, was still in shock and could not sleep alone.
Thailand has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in Asia, second only to Pakistan and far surpassing its Southeast Asian neighbours.
Data collected in 2017 by the groups Small Arms Survey and GunPolicy.org in their last extensive international study found civilian gun ownership in Thailand was about 15.1 guns per 100 people, compared with less than one per 100 in neighbouring Malaysia.
Thailand had 3.49 deaths by firearms per 100,000 people, according to 2023 statistics published by World Population Review. That puts it well behind parts of Latin America and the Caribbean, but relatively high in Asia. Only the Philippines is higher in Southeast Asia.
While shootings involving indiscriminate killings are not common, the country has seen an uptick in high-profile shooting deaths in recent years.
In February, a 17-year-old stole a gun from police and opened fire at a public high school in southern Thailand, briefly taking people hostage in a two-hour attack that killed one person and wounded two others.
A 14-year-old boy was accused of a 2023 shooting at a major Bangkok shopping mall.
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