Crime At Least 36 Killed, Including 22 Children, in Mass Shooting at Kindergarten in Thailand The mass shooting occurred in rural Nong Bua Lamphu province in northeast Thailand, the Royal Thai Police said in a statement Thursday By Phil Boucher Phil Boucher Phil Boucher is an editor at PEOPLE and based in London. People Editorial Guidelines Published on October 6, 2022 07:22AM EDT At least 36 people, including 22 children and two teachers, were killed when a gunman opened fire at a children's kindergarten in Thailand on Thursday. The mass shooting occurred around 12:30 p.m. local time in rural Nong Bua Lamphu province in northeast Thailand, the Royal Thai Police (RTP) said in a statement on its Facebook page. Around 12 other people were wounded, reported NBC News, citing the office of Police Gen. Surachete Hakparnwhich. Eight of these are considered serious, NBC added. The RTP named ex-police officer Panya Khamrab, 34, as the suspected attacker. He had been fired from the police in 2021 for drug use and attended a court hearing for drug charges before the attack, a police spokesperson told reporters, according to the BBC. Jurors in Parkland School Shooting Trial to Visit Still-Bloodstained Building Panya Khamrab. HANDOUT/THAILAND'S CENTRAL INVESTIGATION/AFP via Getty Images Kamrab was armed with a shotgun, a pistol and a knife, the BBC added, per Thailand's public broadcaster. He also murdered his wife and child before shooting himself, police added Thursday, Reuters reported. "The shooter came in around lunchtime and shot four or five officials at the childcare center first," District official Jidapa Boonsom told Reuters about the killings, adding that the victims included a teacher who was 8 months pregnant. Uvalde Footage Shows Cops Backing Off Classroom After Getting Shot at, Not Confronting Shooter for 77 Minutes Thai school shooting. HANDOUT/Royal Thai Police/AFP via Getty Images "At first people thought it was fireworks," Lamphu continued to Reuters. She added that around 30 children were at the kindergarten when the gunman arrived. The youngest victim was said to be 2 years old, NBC News reported. Thai school shooting. THAI PBS via AFPTV//AFP via Getty Images According to the BBC, the gunman opened fire after he arrived at the kindergarten and could not find his child. An eyewitness told Reuters he forced himself into a locked room when children were sleeping and opened fire. He then drove his vehicle into a crowd of people when he fled, shooting from the driver's window, added the BBC, citing police spokesman Paisan Luesomboon. He returned home to kill his wife and child. What Qualifies as a Mass Shooting? It Depends Who You Ask Thailand school shooting. THAI PBS via AFPTV//AFP via Getty Images "He intended to crash into others on the road," eyewitness Paweena Purichan, 31, told the AFP news agency. "The attacker rammed a motorbike and two people were injured. I sped off to get away from him." Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. Purichan added to the outlet that the gunman was a well-known drug addict. While gun ownership is high in Thailand, mass shootings are rare. Its last major incident was in 2020 when a soldier killed 29 and wounded 57 after a property deal went sour.