Thousands light candles for victims of Thailand mass shooting
10 February, 2020
Thousands of individuals holding candles attended a vigil in northeastern Thailand on Sunday (Feb 9) for the victims of a rogue soldier who killed at least 29 persons and wounded 57 before being shot dead.
Monks led prayers as persons laid down white flowers in memory of the victims at the vigil, that was held by the statue of a historic local heroine, Thao Suranari, in the city of Nakhon Ratchasima. Some shed tears because they remembered the dead.
The majority of those killed were at the city's Terminal 21 shopping centre, where the shooter held out against an overnight siege with an assault rifle and ammunition stolen from his army base.
"You have this rage, it fills you," said local resident Chirathip Kurapakorn at the vigil.
"I have two kids of my very own and just thinking about those lives within. I possibly could not sleep at all last night. I was just looking to get the right news and just wished to help somehow, but I simply could not."
"It just happened the following in our hometown behind us, like right in our heart of everything. It's just tragic."
"I'm here to pray tribute to those that died. I feel depressed that something like this could happen," said Pacharida Sangthongsuk.
'LIKE A ZOMBIE MOVIE'
The killings commenced at around 3pm (0800 GMT) on Saturday when the soldier Sergeant-Major Jakrapanth Thomma opened fire in a house before moving to an army camp and to the mall, where he shot bystanders as he moved inside.
Volleys of gunfire rang out as the siege ran into dawn, hours after Thai security services stormed the ground floor and freed scores of terrified shoppers from the rampage.
Frightened shoppers sent cascades of messages to friends and family on social media from storerooms, barricaded in toilets and hidden under tables as the gunman stalked the mall.
With the device gun slung over his shoulder and in full combat gear, Jakrapanth swaggered through the emptied out floors in haunting footage captured by CCTV cameras.
Evacuees recounted how a typical Saturday at the busy shopping centre descended into horror as he entered, sparking an hours-long ordeal.
"It was like a dream ... I'm grateful I survived," Sottiyanee Unchalee, 48, told AFP, explaining she hid in the toilet of a gym inside mall as she heard the gunfire.
Scores of folks made a dash for this as police and soldiers in masks and wielding assault rifles took control of the bottom floor carrying out a gun battle and scoured the fleeing crowds for the assailant.
It had been total panic, it had been like a zombie movie," Chanatip Somsakul, 33, said of the escape along with his wife and three-year-old daughter.
"People jumped on motorbikes and ran everywhere."
A long time later the gunman was shot dead. Photos showed smiling units of elite soldiers and police emerging from the mall.
Jakrapanth's exact motive remains unclear.
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