At least six people were killed on Monday when a gunman opened fire at a market in Bangkok, Thailand’s capital, according to a statement from Thai police.
Charin Gopatta, Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, informed Reuters that the fatalities include the gunman, who took his own life.
“Police are investigating the identity of the person and the motive for the incident,” Thai police stated. They added that the five individuals killed by the gunman were security guards at the market.
Sanong Saengmani, a police official in Bangkok’s Bang Sue district, where the market primarily selling agricultural produce is located, confirmed that no tourists were killed or injured in the shooting.
Tourism is a crucial economic driver for Thailand, Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy. With sluggish growth, such incidents could potentially dampen market sentiment.
Video footage released by police shows a suspect, wearing a white hat and a backpack slung across his chest, walking through the market’s parking lot.
Gun violence and gun ownership are not uncommon in Thailand. In October 2023, a 14-year-old suspect used a modified handgun to kill two people and injure five others at a luxury mall in central Bangkok. A year prior, a former police officer killed 36 people, including 22 children, in a gun-and-knife attack at a nursery in eastern Thailand.
