Weeping, grief-stricken families gathered on October 7 out-side a Thai nursery where an ex-policeman murdered nearly two dozen children in one of the kingdom’s worst mass killings.
Thai King Maha Vajiralong-korn and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha will later visit survivors of the attack that left at least 37 people dead, including the attacker’s wife and child.
“I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t think that it would be my two grandsons,” she said, clutching her inconsolable daughter’s shoulder.
Overnight, coffins carrying the bodies of the victims — who include 23 children — arrived at a morgue in Udon Thani, the closest city to the rural district ripped apart by Thursday’s three-hour rampage.
Armed with a 9mm pistol and a knife, sacked police sergeant Panya Khamrab opened fire on the childcare centre in the north-eastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province at about 12:30 pm (0530 GMT).
Following the attack, 34-year-old Panya fled the scene in a pickup truck to head home and murder his wife and child before taking his own life, police said, ending the killing spree around 3:00 pm.