Mass shooting, Thailand

This item appears on page 18 of the April 2020 issue.

In central Thailand, a soldier opened fire on groups of people in the city of Nakhon Ratchasima on Feb. 9, killing 29, with his commanding officer and that officer’s mother-in-law the first to be killed. The soldier next fired on a Buddhist temple before moving on to a shopping center, where he remained for hours until police killed him in a shootout. It was the first recorded mass-shooting event in the country.

The shooter had been involved in a land-development business with his first two victims. Authorities believe that the shooting began as a dispute about money owed but do not know why he began targeting strangers.