Bangkok, July 28 (EFE).- Five people were killed in a mass shooting at Bangkok’s Or Tor Kor food market on Monday, Thai police told EFE.
The suspect then took his own life at the busy market located opposite the capital’s famous open-air Chatuchak weekend market, which is visited by thousands of tourists a day.
The deputy police chief of the capital’s Bang Sue district, Worapat Sukthai, told EFE that the shooter killed four security guards he allegedly knew, as well as a market vendor.
Local media reported the gunman was a 61-year-old former security guard who was found dead on a bench, and that two women were also injured.
Although an investigation is still underway, the police’s initial motive hypothesis is that there was a prior conflict between the shooter and the guards.
Before arriving at the market, the gunman allegedly told a taxi driver he was going to shoot all the security guards, the deputy police chief said.
Footage circulating on social media shows a man with a gun wearing a white cap, black T-shirt and camouflage shorts with a backpack slung across his front walking swiftly through a parking lot as people lay motionless on the ground.
Mass shootings are not uncommon in Thailand, with three incidents between 2020 and 2023 highlighting the importance of implementing stricter gun controls in the country.
There are an estimated 10.34 million guns in Thailand, about 15.14 per 100 civilians, of which approximately 4.1 million are unlicensed or unregistered, according to data from the Small Arms Survey. EFE
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