Nakhon Ratchasima shootings | |
---|---|
Location | Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Thailand |
Date | 8–9 February 2020 15:30 – 09:13 (ICT; UTC+07:00) |
Attack type | Hostage-taking, mass shooting, spree killing, shootout |
Weapons |
|
Deaths | 30 (including the perpetrator) [1] [2] [3] |
Injured | 58 [4] |
Perpetrator | Jakrapanth Thomma |
Motive | Business conflict between perpetrator and his commander [5] |
Between 8 and 9 February 2020, a mass shooting occurred near and in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, colloquially known as Korat. A soldier of the Royal Thai Army killed 29 people and wounded 58 others before he was eventually shot and killed. [6]
The attack began when the perpetrator shot and killed his commanding officer and two others at Suratham Phithak Military Camp (ค่ายสุรธรรมพิทักษ์), the base where he was stationed. The perpetrator then stole military weapons and a Humvee and drove to the Terminal 21 Korat shopping mall, which had a large number of shoppers due to the public holiday Magha Puja, where he opened fire on shoppers. On the way, he also fired at several people on the road and at Wat Pa Sattha Ruam, a Buddhist temple. [7] During the attack, the perpetrator posted updates and shared a live stream on his Facebook account. [8] It was the deadliest mass shooting in Thailand's history, [9] [10] before being surpassed by the 2022 Nong Bua Lamphu massacre. [11]
The shooting began at about 15:30 local time on 8 February 2020 at a house, where the gunman arrived to discuss a property dispute with his commander, Colonel Anantharot Krasae. The gunman confronted him, stole his weapon and shot him dead. He then shot and killed the commander's mother-in-law. [12]
Afterwards, the gunman went to the Suratham Phithak army base where he worked and raided the camp, stealing from a guard post and the camp armories two Type 11 assault rifles (a variant of the HK33), an M60 machine gun as well as 776 rounds of ammunition, [13] killing a soldier in the process. He then stole a Humvee and wounded the driver. The gunman escaped the base and opened fire on two police officers and two civilians, wounding them. The officers sustained multiple gunshot wounds in their legs and backs. [6]
After escaping, the gunman started shooting in the street: he stopped outside Wat Pa Sattha Ruam, a Buddhist temple, and killed eight civilians and a police officer. [6] He then arrived at the Terminal 21 Korat shopping mall in the city of Nakhon Ratchasima. At that point he left the vehicle and began shooting indiscriminately at people outside the mall, killing 12 civilians, before detonating a gas cylinder. He then entered the mall, killing two people and taking sixteen hostages inside the mall on the fourth floor. The gunman live streamed on Facebook Live during the siege and shared photos and memes on his profile page, although his account was eventually taken down by Facebook. [6] [8] [14]
Police officers and soldiers stormed the mall and demanded the gunman's surrender, to which he responded by opening fire, killing two policemen and a soldier and wounding at least three others. He remained inside for several hours, during which his mother was brought by authorities to try to convince him to surrender. [15]
On 9 February, at 09:13 local time, police announced that they had shot and killed the gunman. [16]
Sergeant Major 1st Class Jakrapanth Thomma (จักรพันธ์ ถมมา, RTGS: Chakkraphan Thomma; 4 April 1988 –9 February 2020), age 31, was identified as the gunman. His hometown was Kaeng Khro, located in Chaiyaphum Province. He was stationed at the Suratham Phithak Military Base, where the first shooting took place. Thomma previously received training as a non-commissioned officer and was an expert marksman. [17]
Thomma's acquaintances said he was upset over being allegedly cheated out of a property deal and not being given back his money by his commanding officer, Colonel Anantharot Krasae, and Krasae's mother-in-law, who were both shot dead. During the livestream of the shooting, Thomma shouted, "Rich from cheating and taking advantage of people ... Do they think they can take money to spend in hell?" [12]
The perpetrator posted on social media during his attack, asking on Facebook if he should surrender. He had previously posted a picture of a pistol and bullets, captioned "It is time to get excited," and "Nobody can avoid death." Facebook responded by removing the page and issuing a statement condemning the attack. [18]
The events of the shooting were initially covered as live broadcasts near the scene by Thai broadcasters, which received public and governmental criticism for possibly providing the gunman with information about the movements of authorities intervening at the scene. Thailand's broadcast regulator, the NBTC, have called a meeting with representatives of television stations for discussion of their live broadcasts of the siege. NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tanthasit stated he ordered all TV stations to stop live broadcasting the situation and any other information that could have impeded the actions of authorities from intervening, and had issued warnings that were ignored by some stations, which he implied will lead to disciplinary action. [19] [20] The hashtags #แบนช่องone ("Ban Channel One"), #แบนไทยรัฐ ("Ban Thai Rath ") and #สื่อไร้จรรยาบรรณ ("Media without ethics") trended on Twitter in Thailand in response to the media's live coverage. [21]
In the aftermath, the military co-run government was a target of anger, with the hashtags "Reform the Military" and "Prayuth RIP" trending on Twitter. In particular, it was criticized for being unable to prevent one of its own soldiers from easily stealing weapons and committing the shootings, contrasting with its strong control of politics and the economy. In January 2020, General Apirat Kongsompong lauded new laws intended to make it more difficult for ill-intentioned people to steal weapons from the military. [22]
Nakhon Ratchasima is one of Thailand's seventy-six provinces (changwat) lies in lower northeastern Thailand also called Isan. It is the country's largest province by area, has a population of approximately 2.7 million, and generates about 250 billion baht in GDP, the highest in Isan. Neighbouring provinces are Chaiyaphum, Khon Kaen, Buriram, Sa Kaeo, Prachinburi, Nakhon Nayok, Saraburi, and Lopburi.
Suraphol Sombatcharoen was a Thai luk thung singer. Dubbed the "King of Luk Thung", he was one of the first and most important stars of the genre. He was fatally shot while seated in his own car after a live performance in Nakhon Pathom.
Terminal 21 is a chain of mixed-use complexes with 4 locations in Thailand; Asok and Rama III in Bangkok, Korat, and Pattaya. The first location was opened in October 2011, located on Sukhumvit Road, by the Asoke intersection, in Watthana District of Bangkok, Thailand. The second location, Terminal 21 Korat, was opened in December 2016 and is located on Mittraphap Road in Nakhon Ratchasima Province. Terminal 21 Pattaya was opened in October 2018 and is located in Pattaya District of Chonburi Province. There is a proposal for Terminal 21 Rama III to be built by the Chao Phraya river in the Rama III neighbourhood of Yannawa District in Bangkok. On October 20, 2022, Terminal 21 Rama III officially opened.
On 10 April and 13–19 May 2010, the Thai military cracked down on the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) protests in central Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. The crackdown was the culmination of months of protests that called for the Democrat Party-led government of Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve parliament and hold elections. The crackdowns occurred in the vicinity of protest sites near Phan Fa Lilat Bridge and Ratchaprasong intersection. More than 85 were killed, including more than 80 civilians according to the Erawan EMS Center. Two foreigners and two paramedics were killed. More than 2,000 were injured, an undisclosed number of arrests occurred, and 51 protesters remained missing as of 8 June. The Thai media dubbed the crackdowns "Cruel April" and "Savage May". After the protest, its leaders surrendered at the conclusion of the 19 May crackdown, followed by dozens of arson attacks nationwide, including at CentralWorld. Two red shirts who were accused of arson were acquitted later in both courts.
A mass shooting is a violent crime in which one or more attackers kill or injure multiple individuals simultaneously using a firearm. There is no widely accepted definition, and different organizations tracking such incidents use different criteria. Mass shootings are often characterized by the indiscriminate targeting of victims in a non-combat setting, and thus the term generally excludes gang violence, shootouts and warfare. Mass shootings may be done for personal or psychological reasons, but have also been used as a terrorist tactic. The perpetrator of an ongoing mass shooting may be referred to as an active shooter.
Nakhon Ratchasima is the capital of Nakhon Ratchasima province, the largest city in Northeastern Thailand and the third-largest city in Thailand. It is 250 km northeast of Bangkok, one of the four major cities of Isan, known as the "big four of Isan", and has a population of 466,098 people as of 2021. The city is commonly known as Korat, a shortened form of its name.
On 22 July 2016, a mass shooting occurred in the vicinity of the Olympia shopping mall in the Moosach district of Munich, Germany. An 18-year-old Iranian-German, David Sonboly, opened fire on fellow teenagers at a McDonald's restaurant before shooting at bystanders in the street outside and then in the mall itself. Nine people were killed, and 36 others were injured, four of them by gunfire. Sonboly then hid nearby for more than two hours, and killed himself by a self-inflicted gunshot wound when confronted by police.
Livestreamed crime is a phenomenon in which people publicly livestream criminal acts on social media platforms such as Twitch or Facebook Live.
Chakthip Chaijinda is a former Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police from 2015 to 2020.
On 6 November 2019, fifteen people were killed and another five injured in an attack on a security checkpoint in Yala Province, Thailand. Among the dead and injured were a police officer and many village defense volunteers. A total of ten men and five women died in the attack, making it the largest loss of village defense forces in a single attack during the South Thailand insurgency.
On July 17, 2022, a mass shooting occurred at the Greenwood Park Mall in Greenwood, Indiana, United States. The shooting occurred at 5:56 p.m. EDT (UTC−04:00) and lasted less than one minute. Three people were killed and two others were injured in the shooting before the perpetrator, 20-year-old Jonathan Sapirman, was fatally shot by 22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken, a legally-armed civilian bystander.
On 5 August 2022 at 1:00 AM ICT, a fire broke out at Mountain B, a nightclub located on the Sukhumvit Road in Phlu Ta Luang sub-district, Sattahip District, Chonburi Province, Thailand. The fire began at 1 am ICT and caused 13 immediate deaths. Out of the 38 people injured, seven later died in hospital, bringing the total death toll to 20. In October 2022, another victim died in the hospital; she was the 25th death related to the fire.
On 6 October 2022, 34-year-old Panya Khamrab killed 36 people and injured 10 others by shooting, stabbing, and vehicle-ramming in Nong Bua Lamphu province, Thailand, before killing himself. The attack mainly occurred in a children's nursery located in the Uthai Sawan subdistrict of the Na Klang district. It is the deadliest mass murder by a single perpetrator in the modern history of Thailand, surpassing the death toll of the Nakhon Ratchasima shootings in 2020.
On January 9, 2020, a mass shooting and robbery occurred at the Robinson Shopping Centre in the Lopburi province of Thailand. The gunman, Prasittichai Khaokaew, used a suppressed semi-automatic pistol to shoot seven people, killing three of them. He then stole ฿500,000 worth of gold jewelry before fleeing on a motorcycle. Khaokaew was arrested 13 days later on 22 January. While in custody, he confessed to committing the robbery and shooting because he was in debt and wanted to make his life more exciting. He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to death.
On 3 October 2023, at 4:10 p.m., a mass shooting occurred at the Siam Paragon mall in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. The suspected gunman, a 14-year-old male teenager, was arrested after surrendering to the police. The teen, who attended a school that was near the mall, was armed with a modified pistol, which he used to fatally shoot a Burmese worker and a Chinese tourist, and injure five others. A Thai woman succumbed to her wounds on 13 October 2023, becoming the third fatality from this incident.
Miss Grand Nakhon Ratchasima or Miss Grand Korat is a Thai provincial beauty pageant which selects a representative from Nakhon Ratchasima province to the Miss Grand Thailand national competition. It was founded in 2016 by a local organizer Cheewanat Suphattarobon.