At least three people were injured after an unidentified gunman entered a school in southern Thailand and began shooting indiscriminately, Reuters reported. The gunman also took several teachers and students hostage, a police official said.
No deaths were reported in the Thai school shooting.
The gunman, who entered the school and opened fire indiscriminately, was apprehended and all the hostages were freed, police said, the news agency reported. Police and provincial authorities said the gunman was shot and then arrested.
“Police shot and killed a suspect in a shooting in Hat Yai,” Thailand’s Central Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.
It was previously reported that the gunman had been killed, but authorities later clarified that he had been “shot and arrested.”
How the school shooting happened in Thailand
The incident was reported on February 11 when an 18-year-old man entered Patongprathankiriwat School. The school is located in Songkhla Province, Hat Yai District, Southern Thailand.
The man entered the school in an “agitated state and was carrying a weapon”, the provincial administration said. Shortly after he entered, “about two to three gunshots were heard,” the provincial government said.
Deputy Superintendent Wichian Soboon later informed the media that the man was arrested some time later.
At least three people were injured in the incident, a second police official said.
Videos on social media showed several people running to escape the school premises. According to some reports, the principal of the school was also injured in the shooting at the school.
In a photo released by police, the suspect was seen lying barefoot on the ground, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, being detained by armed officers.
Another video on social media, which Mint could not independently verify, showed students running inside the school while gunfire rang out loudly in the background. It cannot be confirmed whether the video was uploaded by a student or a teacher.