BANGKOK: A gunman who used a firearm stolen from a police officer to wound ​a teacher and a girl at a school in southern Thailand’s Hat Yai district on Wednesday has been detained, authorities said.
The 17-year-old suspect entered Patongprathankiriwat School in Songkhla Province’s Hat Yai earlier in the day, appearing agitated, the provincial government said in a statement.
The ‌suspect has ‌a sister at the ​school, ‌police ⁠commander Teerasak ​Chaiyotha said, ⁠but a motive has yet to be determined.
A female teacher was critically injured and had undergone surgery and was now in an intensive care unit, while a teen girl was shot in the waist and was now ⁠in stable condition, he added.
In a ‌photograph shared by ‌police, the suspect, barefoot and wearing ​shorts and a ‌T-shirt, is shown pinned to the ground ‌by armed officers.
He had earlier attacked a police officer and stolen his firearm, provincial governor Ratthasart Chidchoo said, adding that the suspect had a history of ‌substance abuse and was discharged from a psychiatric hospital in December. In a video ⁠obtained ⁠by Reuters, armed police officers storm the three-story school building as gunfire rings out.
Another video shows students running down staircases while police — some wearing helmets, black bulletproof vests, and carrying rifles — shout: “Go home kids, it’s safe.”
Gun violence and ownership are not uncommon in Thailand. In 2002, a former police officer killed 36 people, including 22 children, in a gun-and-knife ​attack at a ​nursery in the country’s east.