On Thursday, the police of Thailand arrested two men who are accused of selling a gun to a 14-year-old suspected of carrying out a shooting attack at Bangkok’s Siam Paragon Mall that left two people dead.
The 14-year-old has been accused of killing over an attack on Tuesday at the Siam Paragon Mall in Thailand’s capital, which police say was taken out with a blank-firing pistol modified to fire live rounds.
Yala province’s Officers in Thailand’s deep south captured two men in the early hours of Thursday on suspicion of selling a gun to a teenager.
A senior Yala policeman told AFP, “Police raided their houses to find more evidence connected to the case. They were sent to Bangkok for questioning.”
Hundreds of shoppers escaped the crowded upmarket mall in worry as firings rang out on Tuesday afternoon.
In total seven people were shot, and a woman from Myanmar and another from China were killed.
The teenage suspect has been arrested with tried killing, having, and shooting a gun in a public place, and holding an unlicensed firearm.
He is experiencing psychiatric testing to see if he is suitable to stand trial — he had earlier been obtaining treatment for a mental illness but had halted taking medication, according to police.
The shooting has flared fresh calls for tighter gun control in a nation awash with both lawful and unlawful weapons.
It came days before the first anniversary of the fatal massacre in Thailand’s history, in which an ex-policeman armed with a gun and knife attacked a nursery in the nation’s north, killing 24 children and 12 adults.
Thailand has an estimated 10 million guns in circulation — one for every seven citizens, and one of the highest rates of ownership in the region, according to an international database,
On Wednesday, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin pledged to bring in “preventative measures” to stop further tragedies.
