'Everybody was screaming': Fear, chaos at Bangkok's Siam Paragon mall as gunman opened fire
Two people were killed in the mall shooting and a 14-year-old suspected gunman has been arrested.
People flee following a shooting at the luxury Siam Paragon shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand on Oct 3, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Devjyot Ghoshal)
BANGKOK: Gunshot after gunshot rang out on Tuesday (Oct 3) at Bangkok’s Siam Paragon mall, the scene of a shooting incident that killed two people.
Witnesses described the chaos as the attack unfolded.
"At around 4.30pm, I heard loud gun noises, continuously, about 10 times," Thanpawasit Singthongkham, 31, who works at a Japanese restaurant in the mall, told AFP.
"Then the department store announced that there was a shooting. The emergency sign was turned on and everyone ran to get out."
He shared footage of terrified shoppers scrambling under metal security gates blocking shop entrances, before they fled down emergency stairwells as sirens blared.
“I heard about five shots firing and everybody was just running and running – it just got all over the place,” said eyewitness Gautam Vora who was with his wife and baby.
“Everybody was screaming and running.”
"I WAS THINKING IF I WOULD DIE"
A 50-year-old housewife told CNA that there was confusion about what happened at first. Ms Nucharee Sorntong was on the fifth floor of the mall to attend an event when the shooting took place.
“They told us there was an irregular incident. At first, I didn’t know because they didn’t say what it was but then I checked the news online,” she said.
“There must have been a few hundreds of people in the room. All the doors were shut.”
She later fainted in the restroom because she was too afraid.
“I was thinking if I would die if the shooter came for me in the restroom,” she said.
Two people – Chinese and Myanmar nationals – were killed, National Police Chief Torsak Sukvimol told reporters. Five others were wounded.
A 14-year-old suspected gunman has been arrested. Video footage showed a long-haired boy wearing a black shirt, glasses and a cap being taken into custody.
Torsak told reporters that the boy was too confused to undergo questioning.
"He is a mental patient at Rajavithi Hospital and he has not been taking his medication," he said.
"He said it was like there was another him telling him who to shoot."
A private school called The Essence, just metres from Siam Paragon, confirmed the suspect was one of its students and offered condolences to the victims' families.
"We will collaborate with the authorities and investigators for the benefit of those involved," Wiwat Catithammanit, director of the US$4,000-a-term school said in a statement.
The upmarket Siam Paragon, located in the heart of Bangkok, is one of the Thai capital’s top shopping destinations, hugely popular with tourists and Thais alike.
The mall draws crowds with its high-end stores, aquarium, movie theatre and dining options.
In 2013, it was named the world's most photographed place by Instagram.
Hundreds of people were earlier seen rushing out of the mall into the pouring rain.
"Actually I was outside of the mall but suddenly a lot of people just ran away and I thought (it is) because of this rain,” said South Korean tourist Pepper Park.
“And then some Thai people told me we should run away. I asked why and they said because there is some terrorism.”
In a video shared on Facebook and verified by AFP, scores of people could be seen in the mall's basement car park being directed by loudspeakers.
Dozens of police vehicles and a number of ambulances could be seen outside one of the shopping centre's main entrances in the wake of the shooting.
People were escorted from the mall, while bystanders could be seen walking along the gridlocked road outside.
The shooting has raised questions about security and gun control in Thailand, just days before the anniversary of a massacre at a Thai nursery that killed 36 people in the village of Uthai Sawan.
Additional reporting by Pichayada Promchertchoo.
