Thai soldier kills at least 10 people in shooting spree - CNN

The shooting happened in Thailand's Nakhon Ratchasima Province, known as Korat, on Saturday.

Krissana Pattanacharoen, a police spokesman, told CNN: "At the moment we are trying to capture the guy. Both police and military forces have been deployed to the area."

Pattanacharoen said the motive of the gunman, who is believed to be a soldier in the 2nd Army Regional Command, remains unknown.

The military commander, Lt. General Thanya Kiatsarn, who is at the scene of the shooting, told CNN: "We can't confirm if there are any hostages taken. But we believe he [the shooter] is still holding inside Terminal 21 shopping mall. We are working on this."

The suspect was named as Sub. Lt. Jakrapanth Thomma of the Thai army, according to defense ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Kongcheep Tantravanich.

He is an ammunition battalion officer working for the 22nd Ammunition Battalion. Lt. Gen. Kongcheep said: "In general any military would be good at guns, but this man certainly has more skills."

The shooter had a quarrel with his superior and ended up shooting and killing him, Lt. Gen. Kongcheep said. He then took the superior's gun and went around shooting his colleagues. Aside from the superior, it's unknown if any other military personnel were killed.

The soldier also stole guns and a military Humvee from his quarter. At least one machine gun was stolen but Lt. Gen. Tantravanich could not confirm how many guns and how much ammunition were taken.

After the shooter escaped from his quarter, he drove to the shopping mall and along the way he shot at civilians. The motive is unclear.

Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha sent his condolences to the families of those killed or injured in the attack via a post on his official Twitter page.

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2020-02-08 15:48:00Z
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