Teenager shoots 7 dead in Thailand

**Oliver Conway** (0:00)
This is The Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. We're recording this at 15 Hours GMT on Friday the 7th of August. A teenager in Thailand has shot dead seven people, including teachers at his school, before killing himself. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan sign a NATO-style defense agreement. And as the Ebola-outbreaking Congo hits 4,000 cases, health experts say local communities must play a greater role.
Also in this podcast, a row in London over plans to encourage drinkers not to stand in pubs.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:39)
Sometimes there's a bit of a buzz about it, isn't there? Like pub culture, I suppose, of mingling and enjoying it and having fun.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:45)
If you come to a pub and all the tables are full, you'd probably just be like, no, we're not going to bother.

**Oliver Conway** (0:49)
And the giant lizard of Lombardy. A school shooting in Thailand has left seven people dead and 13 people in hospital. It comes after a string of high-profile attacks there in recent years, but has shocked the nation nonetheless. The gunman was a 14-year-old pupil, and the school is part of a prestigious network which has educated royalty and prime ministers alike. Police say the boy killed his grandparents for opening fire at the school and then killing himself. This footage was recorded on a mobile phone by a student in one of the classrooms.
Pupils in their blue uniforms crouched on the floor underneath their desks trying to stay as quiet as possible. Later, these students spoke about what they saw.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:50)
I was working in the room when I heard a gunshot followed by several more continuously. At first, I thought somebody was playing with a gun, so I called my friends to hide inside the room.

**SPEAKER_5** (2:01)
He first opened fire underneath building 5, then went up the building shooting students as he went. After that, he went up to another building, building 4, and shot at every room. I don't know why.

**SPEAKER_4** (2:15)
One of my friends got shot. He walked up to the door and just fired.
I don't know the shooter, but he seemed to be a student with special needs.

**Oliver Conway** (2:24)
The Thai Prime Minister, Anutin Chanwira Koon, said a friend of the gunman had told police the boy had been under great stress.

**Anutin Chanwira Koon** (2:32)
This is violence, but it is not caused by criminals. It is caused by an individual who carries pressures and tensions.
This really has nothing to do with security measures in the school. The gun is a registered one. It is kept in the house.
We don't know how this child got access to the gun. He intentionally came to school today to commit this unfortunate case.

**Oliver Conway** (3:03)
Our South East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head gave me this update from the school north of Bangkok.

**Jonathan Head** (3:09)
Well, it's the end of the day here, Oliver, but it's pretty quiet now. All the ambulances, the police officers, paramedics and of course family members who came down during the day after the shooting, which started at 10 o'clock in the morning, have now gone. But of course, there are a number of the victims, well over 20 people who were injured, we think between 20 and 30, but some of those victims are in critical condition in hospital. So there's a lot of concern about them. And it's now down to the police to investigate a number of angles as to what actually happened here. This is a 14 year old pupil at the school who teachers say had shown no behavioural issues before, was a good student.
The Prime Minister here has referred to the fact that he might have been under some stress or some pressure from his grandparents. Of course, we know he shot his grandparents before he came down to the school. Very vivid accounts from some of the students here describing hunkering down under their desks as he went systematically from classroom to classroom, firing multiple shots into each of them. And the police have said they're quite surprised at how lethal he was, how accurate he appears to be, have been with a gun, so they think he may have had some kind of firearms training. So obviously there has to be an investigation as to how he got hold of a gun and quite a significant amount of ammunition. He had around 30 rounds still on him at the time that he shot himself. It appears it may have been his grandfather's gun.
And of course, investigations into his state of mind and what went wrong.

**Oliver Conway** (4:42)
And the fact that he was able to get hold of a gun despite strict laws there underlines the issue with gun control in Thailand.