All eight Filipino teachers employed at Debsirin Nonthaburi School survived Friday’s deadly shooting without injury, the Philippine Embassy in Thailand confirmed, hours after a 14-year-old student opened fire at the campus on the outskirts of Bangkok.
In its statement, the embassy said all eight registered Filipino teachers in Debsirin School Nonthaburi “are safe, accounted for, and uninjured,” adding that no Filipino nationals were among the casualties.
The attack unfolded at the secondary school in the Bang Kruai district of Nonthaburi province, a densely populated area bordering the Thai capital. According to police accounts reported by CNN, the teenager arrived at the campus armed with a handgun and killed five members of the school’s teaching and administrative staff before turning the weapon on himself. Emergency responders reached the gunman shortly afterward. Rescue worker Kiatikhun Verapongpradith told Reuters, “We rushed up and found that the perpetrator had shot himself in the right side of the head and collapsed.”
Investigators said the violence had begun earlier that morning at a home in a separate district, where the boy fatally shot his grandparents before traveling to the school. CNN reported that authorities believe the firearm belonged to his grandfather, though officials have not yet established how the teenager obtained it. He had been living with the grandparents because his parents were separated.
The Philippine Embassy expressed its condolences to those affected and pledged to remain ready to help any Filipino nationals who might need support. “The Philippine Embassy extends its deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims, as well as to the entire school community and the Thai government following the tragic school shooting incident at Debsirin School Nonthaburi,” the statement read. It closed with a message of solidarity: “The Philippines stands in solidarity with Thailand during this time of grief.”
Speaking to reporters, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul described the loss and confirmed the gunman’s death. “This is horrible, it shouldn’t have happened,” he said. Most of those harmed were children; the provincial Emergency Operations Center reported that the majority of victims were between 12 and 17 years old.
The boy’s father spoke publicly about the killings, telling CNN he could not explain what drove his son to act. “My son was guilty … he hurt people. I have nothing more to say. But I still don’t know why he did that,” he said, adding that he had never observed any violent tendencies and describing the teenager’s interests as soccer, video games, and caring for his pet birds.
UNICEF weighed in as well, urging Thailand to strengthen mental health services for young people in light of the shooter’s age. “This raises particularly difficult questions for us as a society,” the agency said.
The bloodshed marks the deadliest mass killing in Thailand since the 2022 attack in Nong Bua Lamphu province, which claimed 38 lives. Founded in Bangkok in 1885, the Debsirin school system operates branches nationwide and counts diplomats, athletes, and former prime ministers among its graduates.
