Gunman kills 5 people at Bangkok market before killing himself, police say

A gunman shot and killed five people at a popular fresh food market in the Thai capital Bangkok on Monday before killing himself, police said.

The gunman initially killed three security guards, and then a fourth with whom he had a personal quarrel, Siam Bunsom, commander-in-chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau said. The Erawan Medical Center, which co-ordinates emergency medical services, reported two women were also wounded.

“He reloaded and ran into the market, killing a female merchant and injuring another,” Siam told reporters.

The market, next to the sprawling Chatuchak Weekend Market, carries all sorts of goods and is popular with Thai and foreign tourists. A video circulating online reportedly showed the shooter wearing a baseball cap and shorts walking in the market with a backpack strapped to his chest and a handgun in his right hand.

Duangnapa Yeerunsiri, 38, who was at the market to buy groceries with her boyfriend and sister, was about to leave when she heard the shots ringing out.

“He fired many shots in rapid succession,” she said, referring to the gunman. “So we ducked down in the car and quickly called the police.”

No tourists were killed or injured, said Sanong Saengmani, a police official in Bangkok’s Bang Sue district, where the market, which mainly sells agricultural produce, is located.

Police said they were probing details about the suspect, including his motivation.

Police Gen. Kitrat Phanphet, chief of the national police force, said he has ordered city police to carry out their investigation quickly and gather all evidence, including closed-circuit video footage.

Gun violence is not unusual in Thailand, which has fairly restrictive laws but also a high level of gun ownership. 

The last mass shooting incident in Bangkok was in October 2023 when a teenage boy, using a modified blank pistol, shot more than half a dozen people at the Paragon shopping mall in the city’s main shopping district, killing three.

One of the country’s worst mass killings occurred in October 2022 in the northeastern province of Nong Bua Lamphua, when a police sergeant who had lost his job used guns and knives to kill 36 people, including two dozen toddlers at a day care centre.

In February 2020, a disgruntled Thai army soldier shot and killed 29 people, most at a shopping mall in the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima, before he was killed by police after an 18-hour standoff.