An Ex-Cop Opened Fire At A Daycare In Thailand & Dozens Were Killed In The Mass Shooting

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More than 30 people have been killed, many of them children, in a mass shooting rampage that started at a daycare in Thailand on Thursday, according to police.

Authorities say a 34-year-old former police officer was responsible for the shooting, and that he'd been in court for a drug charge earlier that day, per Reuters. He was fired from his job last year for drug-related allegations.

Police told local media that the gunman showed up at the daycare to pick up his child, but when the kid wasn't there he started shooting. He also used a knife, authorities told the Bangkok Post.

At least 35 people, including 22 children, were killed at the daycare, police told the Post. At least 12 others were injured.

The former police officer then went home and fatally shot his wife and child before killing himself, authorities said.

Video posted by a non-profit rescue crew shows crowds gathered outside the daycare after the shooting, which happened in the northern town of Uthai Sawan.

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha described the incident as "shocking" in a statement mourning the victims on Facebook.

"I would like to express my deepest condolences to the families of the lost and injured," he wrote, per the Facebook translation.

UNICEF Thailand also condemned the incident in a statement of its own on Twitter.

"No child should be a target or witness of violence anywhere, anytime," the organization wrote.

Thailand hasn't seen a mass shooting at this level since 2020, when a soldier killed at least 29 people and injured dozens more in the Thai city of Nakhon Ratchasima.