Student describes fleeing Thailand school shooting by climbing fence

A student at Debsirin Nonthaburi School said she climbed over a fence to flee gunfire as final classes were under way at the prestigious school outside Bangkok. Police said a 14-year-old boy opened fire on Friday morning at the school in Bang Kruai district, Nonthaburi province, sending panicked students streaming out as officers moved in.

At least six people died in the attack, including the suspected shooter, and the dead were said to include three teachers and three students. Authorities also said at least 10 students were wounded, with some accounts putting the number higher. The school lies northwest of Bangkok in a province that has now been pulled into one of Thailand’s most closely watched acts of school violence.

Separate accounts said the suspect had killed his grandparents before opening fire at the school. That detail has sharpened attention on how quickly a domestic killing can spill into a campus attack, turning an ordinary school morning into a mass-casualty emergency that left children and teachers with little time to find cover.

The student’s account of climbing the fence captured the breakdown in basic protection inside the campus. In a matter of moments, students were forced into improvised escape routes while teachers and police tried to contain the violence at a school that is normally associated with academic prestige, not armed attack.

The shooting also drew immediate comparisons with Thailand’s previous major school violence, the 2022 Nong Bua Lamphu massacre. In that attack, a former police officer killed 37 people, mostly preschoolers, in a day-care assault that still shapes public fears over school safety, emergency response and the support children need after an attack.

The latest killings have renewed pressure on Thai authorities to explain how a 14-year-old was able to bring lethal violence into a school during class time, and what protections failed once the attack began. For students who escaped by running, hiding or climbing over fences, the trauma began long before the shooting ended.