Thailand’s day care massacre unites families and a country in grief

Uthai Sawan, Thailand
CNN
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Smears of dried blood still stained the wooden floor of a classroom in northern Thailand on Friday, a day after the country’s worst massacre unfolded in perhaps one of the most unlikely places.

At the Child Development Center Uthai Sawan, school bags sat uncollected on colored shelves, and photos of children smiled from the wall, clipped into place with pegs near cardboard cut-outs of ladybirds.

Outside, sobbing parents sat on blue plastic chairs in a makeshift shed, nursing their grief and clinging to each other and their children’s blankets and bottles, any reminder of life, as officials finalized plans for a visit from the country’s top leaders.

More than 20 young children ages 2-5 lost their lives in this classroom during nap time on Thursday when a former policeman armed with a knife and handgun forced his way inside and slashed them in their sleep.

In a strange mix of grief and grandeur, at the center’s front door, a red carpet had been rolled out for the delivery of a floral wreath, a gift from the Royal Highness Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana Rajakanya, the King’s youngest daughter.

Later Friday, King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida are due to fly north from the Grand Palace in Bangkok to meet the families of the dead and the six injured, still receiving medical care in Nong Bua Lamphu Hospital.

Their visit will follow that of the country’s prime minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, who arrived earlier Friday to visit the hospital and meet with families at the relief center set up by the government.

Thailand is accustomed to the underlying tensions that come in a nation governed by leaders of a military coup, but violence of the type perpetrated on Thursday is rare. The last mass death in the southeast Asian country was two years ago, when a former soldier went on a rampage at a military site before targeting shoppers at a mall in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, known as Korat, further south.

In that case, the shooter was said to have erupted after an argument with another soldier over a land-selling commission fee. In this case, the motive is unclear but after terrorizing the childcare center, Panya Kamrab, a 34-year-old former policeman drove home and shot his wife and child, before taking his own life.

The total death toll was 36, including Panya’s wife and two-year-old stepson, who normally attended that day care center, but who wasn’t there when the officer came searching for him. The toddler’s death takes the number of children killed to 24.

Drugs may have played a role – officials said Panya had appeared in court that morning on drug possession charges – though blood tests are being carried out to determine if drugs were in his system at the time of the attack.

“Regarding the motivation, the police have not ruled out any possibilities, it could be from personal stress, or a hallucination from drugs, we have ordered a blood test,” Royal Thai Police said in a statement.

The results may give some answers as to why it happened – but they won’t put an end to the inconsolable grief felt throughout this small, close knit community, or solve the question of how to stop it from happening again.

Nopparat Phewdam sat outside the day care center on Friday with other parents, though she lost her brother in the attack. Unlike others there, Nopparat knew the killer. She said he was a frequent customer to her convenience store and often came in with his stepson. “He seemed polite and spoke softly,” she said.

Details of the massacre have been slow to emerge, but the accounts given so far describe a man armed to kill, who didn’t hesitate to attack innocent children, and even shot dead a pregnant staff member who was a month away from giving birth.

One staff member said Panya entered the center around noon, while two other staff members were having lunch. They heard sounds “like fire crackers” and saw two colleagues collapse on the floor. “Then he pulled another gun from his waist…I didn’t expect he would also kill the kids,” they said.

Most of the deaths were the result of “stabbing wounds,” local police chief Major General Paisan Luesomboon told CNN. First responders told CNN of the grim scene that awaited them – most injuries were to the head, they said.

In the any community, the loss of 36 people in one atrocity would be keenly felt, but the deaths of so many young children in a small rural area has shaken the village of around 6,300 people.

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