BANGKOK: Authorities are still piecing together details of how a soldier killed at least 29 people and wounded dozens more in a rampage in and around the northeastern Thai city of Nakhon Ratchasima.
Here is roughly how the killings unfolded, according to Reuters interviews, local media and police accounts. All times are local (GMT +7 hours).
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SATURDAY, FEB 8
12.10pm (0510 GMT): Soldier Jakrapanth Thomma writes on his Facebook page complaining about people who grow rich by cheating and taking advantage of others. "Do they think they can spend the money in hell?" the post ends.
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This screenshot was taken from the now-closed Facebook account of the alleged Thai mall shooter, Jakrapanth Thomma. (Photo: AFP)
3pm – Jakrapanth arrives at a house to discuss a property dispute in the presence of his commanding officer. After an argument, he shoots dead his commander and a woman described as a relative of the officer.
4pm – He goes to the Surathamphitak army base where he worked, kills an army guard and steals weapons from the armoury. He commandeers a Humvee.
A wanted poster released on Feb 8, 2020, for Jakrapanth Thomma, a Thai soldier wanted in connection to a deadly attack in the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima. (Photo: AFP/Thai Royal Police)
4.30pm – He stops at a Buddhist temple and opens fire as authorities pursue him, killing around nine people including a police officer, before driving away.
5.30pm – The soldier arrives at Terminal 21 shopping mall where he begins to open fire on panicked shoppers. At least 12 people are killed.
A video grab created on Feb 9, 2020 from a handout video released by the MCOT Thai Public Company on Feb 8, 2020 shows CCTV footage of Thai soldier Jakrapanth Thomma holding a gun as he walks through the Terminal 21 shopping mall in Nakhon Ratchasima.
5.50pm – Police shut down a cordon of about 2km around the mall.
6pm – Gunshots are heard and a fire breaks out at the mall after a soldier shoots either an electricity station or a fuel tank.
This screenshot made on Feb 8, 2020 from a handout video released by the Thai Royal Police shows a fire on the compound of the Terminal 21 shopping mall during a shooting by a Thai soldier in the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima. (Photo: AFP/Thai Royal Police)
6.30pm – The soldier posts another message on his Facebook page: "Death is inevitable for everyone."
8pm – Police bring the shooter's crying mother from home in Chaiyaphum province to Nakhon Ratchasima to help ask the soldier to surrender.
People run together as they are rescued by Thai commandos from Terminal 21 shopping mall, where a mass shooting took place, on Feb 9, 2020 in the Thai northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA/AFP)
9.30pm – Facebook says it has shut down the shooter's page.
10.15pm – Thai security forces storm into the mall and help hundreds of trapped people escape.
Thailand security forces evacuate people from a shopping mall as they chase a shooter hidden in after a mass shooting in front of the Terminal 21, in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand February 9, 2020. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
10.50pm – Police say they have taken control of the ground floor of the mall.
SUNDAY, FEB 9
12.30am – The soldier escapes to the shopping centre's basement, which houses a food court and grocery store. More security forces move inside the mall.
Thai soldiers and paramedics gather outside the Terminal 21 shopping mall where a mass shooting took place in the northeastern Thai city of Nakhon Ratchasima, on Feb 9, 2020. (Photo: AFP/Lillian SUWANRUMPHA)
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