An enraged and apparently insane non-commissioned officer of the Royal Thai Army, who shot dead 26 people and wounded 57 others in the city of Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand Saturday afternoon, was killed in a gunbattle with Thail police and army soldiers inside a shopping mall Sunday morning.
Ten of the wounded are in critical condition, said deputy prime minister Anutin Charnvirakul. The bodies of the 26 people killed are at the Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital, he added.
Sergeant Major Jakrapanth Thomma, 32, of the 22nd Ammunition Battalion livestreamed on Facebook Live his berserker rampage -- the worst mass shooting in modern Thai history -- posting messages, selfies of himself in full tactical gear and memes before Facebook took down his posts. He was holding 16 people hostage at the time Thai army soldiers and police attacked him. Thomma was shot dead in the ensuing gunbattle.
Before he went on his murderous carnage, Thomma wrote on his Facebook page that "Death is inevitable for everyone." He also posted a picture of his hand holding a gun.
"We don't know why he did this," said defense ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Kongcheep Tantrawanich. "It appears he went mad."
Local media report the murders began 2:30 p.m. local time when Thomma, who was stationed at the Surathamphithak Camp on the outskirts of the city, shot dead his commanding officer, Anantharot Krasae, during an argument. He then shot dead Krasae's mother-in-law. Local police claim both these people were killed over a land dispute.
After these two murders, Thomma stole weapons from the base and killed a soldier. He stole a Humvee after shooting and wounding the driver.
Thomma escaped the base and opened fire on two police officers and two civilians, wounding all of them. He sped towards Nakhon Ratchasima, also called, Korat, which is 250 km northeast of the capital Bangkok. As he roared through the city, Thomma opened fire randomly at people, said police spokesman Col. Kissana Phathanacharoen.
In one Facebook video, Thomma shared a video showing him wearing an army helmet while driving the Humvee. He said in Thai, "I'm tired... I can't pull my finger anymore" and making a trigger symbol with his hand.
His drive ended at the Terminal 21 Korat mall, where he immediately opened fire on civilians in the parking lot. Local media showed video of Thomma exiting the Humvee in front of the mall and firing a series of shots with his automatic rifle. Online video depicts panicked scenes showing screaming people fleeing to the rattle of automatic gunfire. One online video showed a dead man slumped at the wheel of his car in a pool of blood.
Thomma then began shooting at people inside the shopping mall. His gunfire detonated a cooking gas cylinder, igniting an explosion and a fire. He took a selfie of himself while a fireball and black smoke from the burning gas cylinder raged behind him and posted it online.
City police said he killed at least 17 civilians in the mall, four of whom died in hospital. Thomma then took 16 hostages at the mall's fourth floor, where he barricaded himself with his hostages.
Thomma kept live-streaming his murderous rampage on Facebook Live during the siege and shared photos and memes on his profile page. Police officers and soldiers stormed the mall and demanded Thomma's surrender. Thomma opened fire on them, killing a policeman and wounding three others.
Police brought his mother to the mall in a fruitless effort to try to convince him to surrender. Thomma and his hostages were trapped inside the mall, which was ringed by police and troops.
