Gunman kills 5 people at Bangkok market before killing himself, police say

A gunman shot and killed five people at a popular fresh food market in the Thai capital Bangkok on Monday before killing himself, police said, attributing the shooting to a personal grudge.

The victims included four security guards at the Or Tor Kor market in northern Bangkok, according to a police statement. It said a vendor there was also killed, and two others were wounded.

"He reloaded and ran into the market, killing a female merchant and injuring another," Siam Bunsom, commander-in-chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, told reporters.

The market, next to the sprawling Chatuchak Weekend Market, carries all sorts of goods and is popular with Thai and foreign tourists. 

A statement by Bangkok's Metropolitan police commissioner issued several hours after the shooting said the gunman's wife told them that he had held a grudge against the security guards related to his car being scratched in 2019 or 2020.

The wife has a food stall at the market, the statement said.

"Mr. Noi is a person who loves and is very protective of his car, and is also a violent person," said the statement, identifying the suspect only by a nickname.

It said the shooter walked away after the shooting and shot himself with a handgun on a bench. He had been wearing a black T-shirt, military-pattern shorts, a baseball cap and a backpack.

Gun violence not unusual in Thailand

The statement stressed that the incident involved a personal conflict and was not linked to the border fighting with neighbouring Cambodia, as had been rumoured on social media.

Duangnapa Yeerunsiri, 38, who was at the market to buy groceries with her boyfriend and sister, was about to leave when she heard the shots ringing out.

"He fired many shots in rapid succession," she said, referring to the gunman. "So we ducked down in the car and quickly called the police."

No tourists were killed or injured, said Sanong Saengmani, a police official in Bangkok's Bang Sue district, where the market, which mainly sells agricultural produce, is located.

Gun violence is not unusual in Thailand, which has fairly restrictive laws but also a high level of gun ownership. 

The last mass shooting incident in Bangkok was in October 2023 when a teenage boy, using a modified blank pistol, shot more than half a dozen people at the Paragon shopping mall in the city's main shopping district, killing three.

One of the country's worst mass killings occurred in October 2022 in the northeastern province of Nong Bua Lamphua, when a police sergeant who had lost his job used guns and knives to kill 36 people, including two dozen toddlers at a day care centre.

In February 2020, a disgruntled Thai army soldier shot and killed 29 people, most at a shopping mall in the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima, before he was killed by police after an 18-hour standoff.