People leave Siam Paragon shopping centre in Bangkok on October 3, 2023, following a shooting incident in the mall.
| Photo Credit: AFP
Police have arrested a suspected gunman after a shooting at a luxury mall in Thailand’s capital Bangkok, local media reported.
Emergency services said at least three people were killed and three were injured in the incident at Bangkok’s Siam Paragon. Television station Thai PBS reported five people wounded.
Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau posted an image on its Facebook page of a man they said was the suspected gunman.
Unverified videos shared on social media showed people, including children, running out of the doors of the Siam Paragon Mall while security guards ushered them out.
One of the videos showed people taking cover in a darkened room inside a restaurant, while live television showed long queues of traffic outside the mall in torrential rain.
Local broadcaster Channel 3 reported sounds similar to gunfire were heard inside, coming from a bathroom in the mall.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin expressed concern over the incident.
“I am aware of the shooting event at Siam Paragon and have ordered the police to investigate. I am most worried about public safety,” he posted on X social media.
Gun violence is common in Thailand. An ex-police officer killed 22 children in a nursery last year during a gun-and-knife attack, while in 2020 a soldier shot and killed at least 29 people and wounded 57 in a rampage that spanned four locations in and around the northeastern Thai city of Nakhon Ratchasima.
