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- A 14-year-old boy was charged with premeditated murder and illegal possession of a firearm.
- Two people died and five were wounded in the Siam Paragon Shopping Centre shooting.
- Police said the boy had adapted a widely-sold gun meant to fire blanks.
Authorities in Thailand charged a 14-year-old boy with premeditated murder and illegal possession of a firearm on Wednesday after a shooting spree at a Bangkok mall using what police said was a modified pistol intended to fire blanks.
Two people, a Chinese and Myanmar national, died and five were wounded in the shooting at Siam Paragon Shopping centre on Tuesday, the latest gun violence to shock Thailand in the past three years. The accused had suffered a psychological breakdown in the run-up to the shooting, police said.
But a court turned down a police request to detain the accused at a mental health facility and ordered him into juvenile detention instead, according to a court document seen by Reuters.
The accused faces five charges, including illegal possession of a firearm, the illegal carrying of a firearm in public, and illegal discharge of a firearm in public, Major General Nakarin Sukhontawit told Reuters.
The shooting spree erupted late on Tuesday afternoon at the mall in Bangkok's bustling commercial heart, sending hundreds of panicked shoppers racing to the exits, some screaming as gunshots rang out.
READ | Police arrest 14-year-old boy after three die in Bangkok mall shooting
The accused surrendered after police cornered him in a designer furniture shop. Mass shootings are rare in Thailand, but gun violence and gun ownership are common. Ownership rules are strict, but firearms can be modified and obtained illegally, many smuggled from abroad.
Police said the boy had adapted a widely sold gun meant to fire blanks.
Voice 'told him to shoot'
The violence came three days from the first anniversary of Thailand's worst massacre, in which 35 people were murdered, including 22 children, at a nursery in a northeast Thai town, during an hours-long gun-and-knife attack by a former policeman who later shot himself dead.
In 2020, a soldier shot and killed at least 29 people and wounded 57 in a rampage that spanned four locations around the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima.
Siam Paragon is Thailand's most famous mall, drawing crowds of domestic and foreign shoppers daily to its high-end stores, aquarium, cinema, and food court dining. It was Instagram's most photographed place in 2013.
On Wednesday, flowers were left in front of the mall as it reopened for business while workers were seen replacing the shattered facade of a Louis Vuitton store.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin attended a technology event at the mall and told reporters that access to guns, including ones that can be modified, was something his government would address with police.
Srettha said:
The shooting came as Srettha's new government is trying to stimulate a stuttering economy by boosting tourist arrivals in what is one of Asia's most popular travel spots, including by offering visa-free entry to citizens of China, a crucial market for Thailand.
China's embassy in Bangkok said Srettha had called its ambassador and pledged to "strengthen public safety management to offer a reliable and safe environment for Chinese people traveling to Thailand".
National police chief Torsak Sukvimol said the suspected gunman had been receiving psychological treatment and had not taken his prescribed medication when he began shooting.
Investigators were looking into his background and planned to speak to friends, including some online gamers, about his mental state.
"We will have to investigate the accused regarding whether he had violent and aggressive conduct before," said Torsak, who met the boy soon after the shooting.
"Initially, I spoke to him to calm him down ... he appeared to hear someone speaking to him, he was hearing things, a noise, he said, told him to shoot," he told media.
