This story has been updated with new developments. A former police officer in northeast Thailand killed more than 30 people in a shooting and stabbing rampage Thursday, including at least 23 children at a preschool day care center, authorities say. Officials say 34-year-old Panya Kamrab attacked the center in Nong Bua Lamphu province around lunchtime and started the rampage by killing four or five staff members, including a teacher who was eight months pregnant, reports Reuters. Police say the gunman fled the center in a pickup truck after the massacre and killed his wife and child, then himself, while a manhunt was underway.
Police, who put the death toll at 38 at a news conference Thursday, said the attacker was armed with a shotgun, a pistol, and a knife. The victims were as young as 2 years old, the Guardian reports. Police officials said the gunman was fired from the police force last year for drug-related reasons. A police spokesman said the shooter attended court on a drugs charge before the attack. Mass shootings are relatively rare in Thailand despite high levels of gun ownership, though a soldier killed 26 people in a shooting spree in early 2020. The New York Times reports that Thursday's attack was the deadliest mass shooting ever carried out by a single perpetrator in Thailand. (More Thailand stories.)
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