Grief and shock in Thailand after mass killing of ‘tiny angels’

Thais have turned to social media to mourn as 4.7 million people sent posts under a commemorative hashtag on Friday.

Grief and anger have engulfed Thailand a day after the mass killing of children and adults at a preschool daycare centre by a former Thai police officer who went on a rampage of stabbing and shooting before he shot his wife, child, and himself.

The country reeled as details of Thursday’s grisly attack in a small town in one of the nation’s poorest regions emerged, and as the death toll mounted to eventually reach 37 dead with at least 24 children among the slain.

government representatives in white military uniforms laid wreaths at ceremonial tables in front of the daycare centre’s main door on Friday morning, as a faded Thai flag flew at half-staff above.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha visited the site on Friday. Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida were expected to go to hospitals, where seven of the 10 people who were wounded remain.

A vigil was planned in a central Bangkok park.

Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha pays his respects outside the day care centre which was the scene of a mass shooting, in the town of Uthai Sawan, around 500 km northeast of Bangkok, in the province of Nong Bua Lam Phu, Thailand October 7, 2022. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha pays his respects outside the daycare centre which was the scene of a mass shooting [Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters]
The mother of Supaporn Pramongmuk, a 25-year-old teacher at the centre who was eight months pregnant and killed along with her young students, said she had cried until her tears ran dry.

“Tears are falling inside my heart,” Pranee Srisutham told Al Jazeera on Thursday night at an emergency centre set up near the preschool.