A 14-year-old suspect was arrested after a shooting at a crowded Bangkok shopping mall on Tuesday, according to a Thai medical official, who revised down an earlier toll.
Hundreds of people fled the posh Siam Paragon mall in the heart of Bangkok as bullets sounded out about 4:30 p.m. (0930 GMT), according to witnesses.
The Royal Thai Police Metropolitan Investigation Bureau announced on its official Facebook page that detectives had arrested a 14-year-old child in connection with the incident.
A long-haired boy wearing a black shirt, spectacles, and a cap with a US flag design was seen being arrested by police in video footage.
Yuthana Srettanan, director of the Erawan Emergency Centre, told reporters that one woman had been killed, correcting his initial report of three deaths.
“The deceased is a Chinese national, according to the preliminary examination,” Yuthana told reporters.
Six people were wounded, he said, with five in critical condition. All but one of those who were shot were women.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said he was monitoring the situation closely.
“What I care about most right now is the safety of all citizens,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“I ask all workers to monitor the situation, and may everyone be safe.”
‘Multiple gunshots’
Witnesses described chaotic scenes as the attack unfolded at Siam Paragon, one of Bangkok’s top shopping destinations, hugely popular with tourists and Thais alike.
“At around 4.30 pm, I heard loud gun noises, continuously, about 10 times,” Thanpawasit Singthongkham, 31, who works at a Japanese restaurant in the mall, told AFP.
“Then the department store announced that there was a shooting. The emergency sign was turned on and everyone ran to get out.”
He caught a crowd of scared shoppers scrabbling beneath metal security gates blocking shop entrances before fleeing down emergency stairwells as sirens blared in footage shared with AFP.
Another video, published on Facebook and authenticated by AFP, shows a large crowd being guided by loudspeakers in the mall’s basement parking lot.
Following the shooting, several of police vehicles and ambulances could be seen outside one of the retail center’s main gates.
“I heard multiple gunshots — about three times — and saw people running around towards the exits,” Nattanon Dungsunenarn, who was shopping in a branch of Boots pharmacy, told AFP.
“It was very chaotic and seemed like many people didn’t know what exactly was going on.”
‘Terrified’
People were still being escorted from the mall, while bystanders could be seen walking along the gridlocked road outside.
“We didn’t know what was happening, then staff from a shop asked us to go inside and said there was a shooter,” Chinese tourist Xiong Ying, 41, told AFP.
“Everyone was trying to find a place to hide. So many people were terrified, just like a scene in the zombie movies.
“I now feel quite scared. It happened just like two minutes after we left by crossing the bridge. We even took photos there.”
The incident comes only days before the one-year anniversary of one of Thailand’s bloodiest days, when an ex-police officer armed with a knife and a gun assaulted a nursery, killing 24 children and 12 adults.
In 2020, a former army commander went on a rampage in a Korat shopping mall, killing 29 people and injuring dozens more.