Bangkok—
On November 11th, 2023, Thung Maha Mek police officers received a quarrel report between two rival groups from famous colleges in Khlong Toei, Bangkok. There was one casualty and one serious injury reported.
An innocent passerby who was shot to death was later publicly identified only as Ms. Sirada, a 40-year-old teacher from a Thai school. Another victim with a severe wound was an anonymous student at a famous college, which was believed to be a rival group to another college in the area.
According to the report from the investigative officers, an unidentified student who was a friend of the victim gave testimony to the police officers at the crime scene. He reportedly said to the police officers that two alleged college students from another institution rode a motorcycle and went to shoot his friend with serious injury. However, Sirada was shot dead on sight as a passerby.
The police officers then conducted an interrogation of one of the seniors from the victim’s college, he reportedly revealed that a group of these juniors were followed by another college institution. Suddenly, the two unidentified shooters allegedly grabbed a firearm and shot with 5 rounds which led to the tragic incident before fleeing away.
In fact, similar incidents have occurred many times between two institutions in the area.
The senior from the college expressed his condolences to the victim’s family and also reportedly mentioned that illegal firearms could be bought from online platforms easily.
Initially, Thai police officers pledged to conduct further investigations to take the involved individuals accountable for their crimes.
Ms. Sirada has been mourned across Thailand and the incident has brought anger and more focus to Thailand’s gun problem, especially from the Minister of the Interior, Anutin Charnvirakul.
