Siam Paragon mall shooting: 14-year-old arrested after 3 killed in Bangkok
A 14-year-old boy was arrested after he allegedly shot and killed 3 people at a shopping mall in Bangkok on Tuesday. Four other people were injured as a result of the shooting. The incident unfolded at Siam Paragon Center, and fatalities included a foreign national. The teenage suspect surrendered to the police after using a…
A 14-year-old boy was arrested after he allegedly shot and killed 3 people at a shopping mall in Bangkok on Tuesday. Four other people were injured as a result of the shooting.
The incident unfolded at Siam Paragon Center, and fatalities included a foreign national. The teenage suspect surrendered to the police after using a handgun to carry out the shooting. He was arrested.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said the situation had been brought under control. The shopping center was quickly evacuated when the situation started unfolding on Tuesday. Videos that surfaced on social media showed shoppers running out of the mall, which was sealed off.
Siam subway station, located near the mall, was also shut.
In one of the videos posted online from inside the mall, four loud noises that sound like gunshots could be heard in the busy complex. Witnesses said that they started hiding inside shops and bathrooms when the shooting started.
Jakkraphan Nakharisi, 29, an ice cream seller who has worked at the mall for two years, told the BBC that he did not recognize that the noises coming from inside the mall were gunshots.
“There were 4-5 of them. And then silence. Then there were probably another two shots. Then I heard someone in my shop shout “there’s some shooting! I ducked behind the ice cream tank immediately. I didn’t know where to run. I thought I couldn’t just go out recklessly,” he said.
He left “no more than 10 minutes after the shooting,” he told the publication. He said he heard security guards escort people off the premises.
Siam Paragon is quite a popular tourist destination. Mass shootings almost never take place in Thailand even though gun ownership rates are relatively high for the region.
