mass shooting There is a lack of consensus on how to define a mass shooting. Most terms define a minimum of three or four victims of gun violence (not including the shooter or in an inner city) in a short period of time, although an Australian study from 200 ...

occurred near and in

Nakhon Ratchasima Nakhon Ratchasima ( th, นครราชสีมา, ) is one of the four major cities of Isan, Thailand, known as the "big four of Isan". The city is commonly known as Korat (, ), a shortened form of its name. It is the governmental seat of ...

, Thailand, colloquially known as Korat, between 8 and 9 February 2020. A soldier of the

Royal Thai Army The Royal Thai Army or RTA ( th, กองทัพบกไทย; ) is the army of Thailand and the oldest and largest branch of the Royal Thai Armed Forces. History Origin The Royal Thai Army is responsible for protecting the kingdom's so ...

killed 29 people and wounded 58 others before he was eventually shot and killed. The attack began when the perpetrator shot and killed his commanding officer and two others at Suratham Phithak Military Camp (), the base where he was stationed. The perpetrator then stole military weapons and a

Humvee The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV; colloquial: Humvee) is a family of light, four-wheel drive, military trucks and utility vehicles produced by AM General. It has largely supplanted the roles previously performed by the ori ...

and drove to the

Terminal 21 Korat Terminal 21 Asok and Grand Centre Point Hotel Terminal 21 ( th, เทอร์มินอล 21) is a chain of mixed-use complexes with 4 locations in Thailand; Asok and Rama III in Bangkok, Korat, and Pattaya. The first location was opened in ...

shopping mall, which had a large number of shoppers due to the public holiday

Magha Puja Magha (māgha, माघ or maghā, मघा) may refer to: * Magha (month) (māgha, माघ), a month in the Hindu calendar * Magh (Bengali calendar), the same month in the Bengali calendar * Magha (poet) (māgha, माघ), an 8th-century San ...

, where he opened fire on shoppers. On the way, he also fired at several people on the road and at Wat Pa Sattha Ruam, a

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in Buddhism represen ...

. During the attack, the perpetrator posted updates and shared a live stream on his Facebook account. At the time, it was the deadliest mass shooting in Thailand's history.

Shootings

House and Suratham Phithak Military Camp

The shooting began at about 15:30 local time on 8 February 2020 at a house, where the gunman arrived to discuss a property dispute with his commander, Colonel Anantharot Krasae. The gunman confronted him, stole his weapon and shot him dead. He then shot and killed the commander's mother-in-law. Afterwards, the gunman went to the Suratham Phithak army base where he worked and raided the camp, stealing from a guard post and the camp armories two

Type 11 assault rifle The Heckler & Koch HK33 is a 5.56mm assault rifle developed in the 1960s by West German armament manufacturer Heckler & Koch GmbH (H&K), primarily for export. Building on the success of their G3 design, the company developed a family of small ...

s (a variant of the

HK33 The Heckler & Koch HK33 is a 5.56mm assault rifle developed in the 1960s by West German armament manufacturer Heckler & Koch GmbH (H&K), primarily for export. Building on the success of their G3 design, the company developed a family of smal ...

), an

M60 machine gun The M60, officially the Machine Gun, Caliber 7.62 mm, M60, is a family of American general-purpose machine guns firing 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges from a disintegrating belt of M13 links. There are several types of ammunition approved for ...

as well as 776 rounds of ammunition, killing a soldier in the process. He then stole a

and wounded the driver. The gunman escaped the base and opened fire on two police officers and two civilians, wounding them. The officers sustained multiple gunshot wounds in their legs and backs.

Buddhist temple and Terminal 21 Korat shopping mall

After escaping, the gunman started shooting in the street: he stopped outside Wat Pa Sattha Ruam, a

, and killed eight civilians and a police officer. He then arrived at the

shopping mall in the city of

. At that point he left the vehicle and began shooting indiscriminately at people outside the mall, killing 12 civilians, before detonating a gas cylinder. He then entered the mall, killing two people and taking sixteen hostages inside the mall on the fourth floor. The gunman

live streamed Livestreaming is streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but ...

on Facebook Live during the siege and shared photos and

memes A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural i ...

on his profile page, although his account was eventually taken down by

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

. Police officers and soldiers stormed the mall and demanded the gunman's surrender, to which he responded by opening fire, killing two policemen and a soldier and wounding at least three others. He remained inside for several hours, during which his mother was brought by authorities to try to convince him to surrender. On 9 February, at 09:13 local time, police announced that they had shot and killed the gunman.

Perpetrator

Sergeant Major 1st Class Jakrapanth Thomma (, ; 4April 19889February 2020), age 31, was identified as the gunman. His hometown was Kaeng Khro, located in

Chaiyaphum Province Chaiyaphum ( th, ชัยภูมิ, ) is one of Thailand's seventy-six provinces (''changwat''), located in central northeastern Thailand , also called Isan. Neighboring provinces are (from north clockwise) Khon Kaen, Nakhon Ratchasima, Lopb ...

. He was stationed at the Suratham Phithak Military Base, where the first shooting took place. Thomma previously received training as a

non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who has not pursued a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. (Non-officers, which includes most or all enli ...

and was an expert marksman. Thomma's acquaintances said he was upset over being allegedly cheated out of a property deal and not being given back his money by his commanding officer, Colonel Anantharot Krasae, and Krasae's mother-in-law, who were both shot dead. During the livestream of the shooting, Thomma shouted, "Rich from cheating and taking advantage of people... Do they think they can take money to spend in hell?"

Aftermath

Social media use

The perpetrator posted on social media during his attack, asking on Facebook if he should surrender. He had previously posted a picture of a pistol and bullets, captioned "It is time to get excited," and "Nobody can avoid death." Facebook responded by removing the page and issuing a statement condemning the attack.

Criticism of media coverage

The events of the shooting were initially covered as live broadcasts near the scene by Thai broadcasters, which received public and governmental criticism for possibly providing the gunman with information about the movements of authorities intervening at the scene. Thailand's broadcast regulator, the NBTC, have called a meeting with representatives of television stations for discussion of their live broadcasts of the siege. NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tanthasit stated he ordered all TV stations to stop live broadcasting the situation and any other information that could have impeded the actions of authorities from intervening, and had issued warnings that were ignored by some stations, which he implied will lead to disciplinary action. The hashtags #แบนช่องone ("Ban Channel One"), #แบนไทยรัฐ ("Ban ''

Thai Rath ''Thairath'' ( th, ไทยรัฐ, lit. ''Thai State'') is a daily newspaper in Thai published in Bangkok and distributed nationwide. The paper is a broadsheet published with two sections. The first section is devoted to news. Although the ne ...

''") and #สื่อไร้จรรยาบรรณ ("Media without ethics") trended on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

in Thailand in response to the media's live coverage.

Criticism of military and government

In the aftermath, the military co-run government was a target of anger, with the hashtags "Reform the Military" and " Prayuth RIP" trending on Twitter. In particular, it was criticized for being unable to prevent one of its own soldiers from easily stealing weapons and committing the shootings, contrasting with its strong control of politics and the economy. In January 2020, General

Apirat Kongsompong Apirat Kongsompong ( th, อภิรัชต์ คงสมพงษ์; ; born 23 March 1960) was the Commander in Chief of the Royal Thai Army from 1 October 2018 to 30 September 2020. He currently serves as the Vice-Chamberlain of the Roya ...

lauded new laws intended to make it more difficult for ill-intentioned people to steal weapons from the military.

References

{{Nakhon Ratchasima 2020 in military history 2020 murders in Thailand 2020 mass shootings in Asia Massacres in Thailand 21st-century mass murder in Asia Attacks on buildings and structures in 2020 Attacks on buildings and structures in Thailand Attacks on military installations in the 2020s Attacks on religious buildings and structures in Asia February 2020 crimes in Asia Filmed killings in Asia Hostage rescue operations Hostage taking in Thailand Livestreamed crimes Mass murder in 2020 Mass murder in Thailand Mass shootings in Thailand Military history of Thailand

Shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...

Royal Thai Army Attacks on shopping malls Spree shootings in Thailand