Over 20 Children Killed In Thailand Nursery Attack: 10 Things To Know

A former policeman killed 38 people, including 23 children, in a knife-and-gun rampage at a daycare centre in Thailand. He later shot dead his wife and child at their home before turning a weapon on himself.

Flags on government buildings flew at half-mast on Friday in a gesture of mourning for one of the deadliest days in recent Thai history. Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha will later visit survivors of the attack.

Thailand Nursery Attack: 10 Things To Know

• Nanthicha Punchum, acting chief of the nursery, described the harrowing scenes as the attacker barged into the building in the rural Na Klang district.
• Armed with a 9mm pistol and a knife, sacked police sergeant Panya Khamrab opened fire on the childcare centre in the northeastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province at about 12:30 pm.
• "There were some staff eating lunch outside the nursery and the attacker parked his car and shot four of them dead. The shooter smashed down the door with his leg and then came inside and started slashing the children's heads with a knife," Punchum told AFP.
• Local media reported that the dead included a school teacher who was eight months pregnant and that one child survived because they were sleeping hidden by a blanket when the attacker arrived.
• After the attack, Panya erratically fled the scene in a pickup truck to head home and murder his wife and child before taking his own life, ending the killing spree around 3:00 pm, police said.
• Overnight, coffins carrying the bodies of the victims -- who include 23 children -- arrived at a morgue in Udon Thani.
• National Police Chief Damrongsak Kittiprapat told reporters that Panya, a former police sergeant, was suspended in January and sacked in June for drug use.
• He said the attacker -- who used a legally purchased pistol -- had been due in court on a drugs charge, adding that Panya was in a manic state but it was unknown whether it was drug-related.
• Thai PM Prayut has ordered a rapid probe into the attack.
• Outside the nursery -- a low building in a local government complex fronted by a lawn -- scores of people gathered on Friday to mourn and pay their respects.

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