[ti:At Least 36 Killed in Thailand's Childcare Center Shooting]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.04]A gunman shot and killed at least 36 people
[00:04.80]at a childcare center in Thailand, Thursday.
[00:09.56]Children and teachers were among the victims.
[00:13.36]Thai officials say the mass shooting
[00:17.12]is the deadliest incident in the country's history.
[00:21.68]The shooter, a former police officer,
[00:24.72]had been dismissed from the service earlier this year
[00:28.80]and was facing an illegal drug charge.
[00:33.00]He killed himself after killing his wife and child at home.
[00:39.36]Photos taken by emergency workers showed the school's floor
[00:44.24]was filled with bodies of children
[00:47.40]still under blankets from their afternoon rest.
[00:52.44]The images showed cuts to their faces
[00:55.40]and gunshots to their heads on the bloody floor.
[01:00.28]The attack took place in the rural town
[01:03.24]of Nongbua Lamphu in northeastern Thailand.
[01:07.24]A teacher told ThaiPBS public broadcaster
[01:11.80]that the attacker got out of a car and immediately shot a man
[01:17.44]and fired at several more.
[01:21.04]When the attacker stopped shooting to reload,
[01:24.56]the teacher said she had a chance to run inside.
[01:28.96]"I ran to the back, the children were asleep,"
[01:32.32]said the teacher who did not give her name.
[01:35.48]"The children were two or three years old," she said.
[01:40.52]Another witness said workers at the childcare center
[01:44.76]had locked the door, but the man shot his way in.
[01:50.16]"The teacher who died, she had a child in her arms,"
[01:54.36]the witness told Thailand's Kom Chad Luek television.
[01:59.52]"I didn't think he would kill children,
[02:01.92]but he shot at the door and shot right through it."
[02:06.64]A video taken at the scene showed rescuers
[02:10.32]running into the building past a broken glass door,
[02:14.36]with drops of blood on the ground in the entryway.
[02:18.92]Police identified the gunman
[02:21.36]as 34-year-old former police officer Panya Kamrap.
[02:26.88]The man used a handgun and knife in the attack
[02:31.52]and also carried another gun.
[02:34.88]An officer told PPTV that he was fired
[02:38.96]from the force earlier this year because of a drug charge.
[02:43.84]Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha,
[02:47.52]who planned to travel to the center on Friday,
[02:51.00]told reporters "This shouldn't happen."
[02:54.68]He added, "I feel deep sadness
[02:57.60]toward the victims and their relatives."
[03:01.80]Mass shootings are rare but not unheard of in Thailand.
[03:06.72]The country has one of the highest
[03:09.32]civilian gun ownership rates in Asia.
[03:12.76]With 15.1 weapons per 100 people,
[03:17.72]the rate in Thailand is still far lower
[03:21.20]than the rate of 120.5 per 100 people in the United States.
[03:28.60]The numbers come from a 2017 study
[03:33.08]by Australia's GunPolicy.org, a nonprofit group.
[03:39.08]Thailand's worst mass shooting before Thursday
[03:42.84]happened in the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima in 2020.
[03:49.72]In that attack, a soldier killed 29 people
[03:54.08]and wounded nearly 60 others.
[03:57.64]And a bombing at a religious center in Bangkok
[04:01.56]resulted in 20 dead in 2015.
[04:05.96]I'm Caty Weaver. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM