Gunman who fired shots in Thai school detained after wounding teacher and girl


BANGKOK, Feb 11 (Reuters) - A ⁠gunman who used a firearm stolen from a police officer ⁠to wound a teacher and a girl at a ‌school in southern Thailand's Hat Yai district on Wednesday has been detained, authorities said.

The 17-year-old suspect entered Patongprathankiriwat School in Songkhla Province's Hat Yai earlier in the ​day, appearing agitated, the provincial government said ⁠in a statement.

The suspect has ⁠a sister at the school, police commander Teerasak Chaiyotha said, but a ⁠motive ‌has yet to be determined.

A female teacher was critically injured and had undergone surgery and was now in an ⁠intensive care unit, while a teen girl was ​shot in the ‌waist and was now in stable condition, he added.

In a ⁠photograph shared ​by police, the suspect, barefoot and wearing shorts and a T-shirt, is shown pinned to the ground by armed officers.

He had earlier attacked a ⁠police officer and stolen his firearm, provincial ​governor Ratthasart Chidchoo said, adding that the suspect had a history of substance abuse and was discharged from a psychiatric hospital in December.

In a ⁠video obtained by Reuters, armed police officers storm the three-storey school building as gunfire rings out.

Another video shows students running down staircases while police - some wearing helmets, black bulletproof vests, and carrying rifles - ​shout: "Go home kids, it's safe."

Gun violence and ⁠ownership are not uncommon in Thailand. In 2002, a former police officer ​killed 36 people, including 22 children, ‌in a gun-and-knife attack at a nursery ​in the country's east.

(Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat, Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal, Editing by Andrew Heavens, Bernadette Baum, Ros Russell)

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