Police shot and arrested the 18-year-old on Wednesday after he stormed into the Phatong Prathan Khiriwat School in southern Songkhla province with a gun, police and other authorities said, adding that several shots were fired.
School director Sasiphat Sinsamosorn died in hospital early on Thursday after being admitted with gunshot wounds and undergoing surgery, the Songkhla public relations department said in a statement.
She was shot before police intervened and apprehended the teenager, Songkhla police chief Teerasak Chaiyotha told AFP.
The 18-year-old suspect was being treated in hospital after being grazed by a bullet and had not been charged pending an investigation, Teerasak said.
Police had responded to a report of a teenager “acting erratically”, he said.
Teerasak told reporters on Wednesday that the suspect was hospitalized for psychiatric treatment in December and had been discharged.
He said the teen stabbed a police officer with a knife and stole his weapon — a 9mm pistol — just before the incident at the school, which he then used to carry out the attack.
‘Brave teacher’
Sasiphat was shot in the chest and died in hospital from blood loss, the Songkhla department said, calling her a “brave teacher”.
The school shared its “deepest condolences” in a Facebook post.
“Although we have lost her, the memories and kindness she left behind will forever remain in our hearts,” the post said.
A teenage girl was also hospitalized with gunshot wounds and underwent surgery, the ministry of public health said.
A second student was hurt after jumping from the second floor of the school building but had been discharged from hospital, the provincial department said.
Classes would be cancelled for two days while authorities collected evidence and reviewed security measures at the school, it said.
Thailand has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the region, with around 10 million firearms estimated to be in circulation — one for every seven inhabitants.
Past promises of tightening gun laws have not prevented repeated shootings.
In 2022, an ex-policeman armed with a gun and a knife stormed into a nursery in the country’s north and murdered 24 children and 12 adults, one of Thailand’s deadliest massacres.
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