Thirty-seven people were killed, including 24 children, by a former policeman with a gun and a knife who barged into a child development centre in Nong Bua Lam Phu on Thursday afternoon.
Another 10 were injured in the attack by Panya Khamrab, a former police corporal who had been discharged from the force for drug abuse, police said.
The death toll of 38 includes the killer, who took his own life after killing his wife and their 3-year-old son.
According to police, 24 of those killed in the rampage at the centre were children, after former Pol Sgt Panya Khamrab burst into the childcare facility operated by the Uthai Sawan tambon administrative organisation in Na Klang district.
The shooting at the childcare facility operated by the Uthai Sawan tambon administrative organisation in Na Klang district began around 12.10pm.
The gunman’s exact motive remains a mystery. Police said Panya, 34, had been expelled from the force on June 15 for possession of methamphetamine pills.
Panya fled the scene in his pickup truck after the carnage. He later shot himself, his wife and child inside his house while surrounded by police.
Police said the mother of the gunman had told him her son had gone to court to attend a hearing on his drug case on Thursday morning.
After leaving the court, he appeared stressed, took some drugs and started to feel paranoid, police quoted the mother as saying.
