By Panarat Thepgumpanat and Napat Wesshasartar
BANG KRUAI, Thailand, Aug 8 (Reuters) - When a shot rang out at the Debsirin Nonthaburi School on the outskirts of Bangkok on Friday morning, 14-year-old Khim and her classmates peered over a balcony to see if the noise had come from a construction site.
But more loud bangs followed, until a teacher ushered them all into a classroom, checked a messaging group and confirmed to the now terrified students: there was an active shooter in their building.
"I heard multiple gunshots and felt like we weren't going to survive," Khim, who asked to be only identified by her nickname, told Reuters on Saturday, describing how her classmates moved desks to block a door, turned off the lights and huddled together near the classroom windows.
Over the next 40 minutes or so, the alleged gunman - another 14-year-old student - ran amok, killing three teachers and two school officials, before turning the gun on himself.
In all, nine people have been killed and another 23 wounded, in Thailand's worst mass shooting since 2022, which has reignited debate over firearms control in Southeast Asia's largest gun-owning nation.
The tragedy had actually begun hours earlier, when the alleged gunman shot dead his grandparents at their home at dawn. He then took a bus to the school, 18 km (11 miles) away, where he pulled out a gun and started shooting just before 10 a.m. (0300 GMT), police said.
GUNMAN TWO DOORS DOWN
Trapped inside their classroom in Building 5, Khim started checking messages on her tablet.
Her elder sister wrote to say she was inside a classroom in Building 4 next door, just as their mother messaged to warn about the shooter.
"I said I knew, and I told her, 'Mom, don't call me, because the ringtone might go off,'" said Khim.
On student chat groups, some photographs of the alleged shooter started circulating as he stalked through the school, which has more than 3,000 students and nearly 150 teachers, according to data from last year.
"Then, I heard a bang that was extremely loud. It felt like it was right next to my ear," said Khim, describing the absolute terror that descended on the classroom as she realised that the gunman was only a few doors down the corridor.
"I didn't know if the shooter was shooting selectively. I didn't know if he wanted to shoot the whole school."
Not long after, Khim said the teacher issued instructions to evacuate the classroom, as police secured parts of the school - but by then, the shooter had moved to Building 4, where her sibling was still hiding.
'COUNT THE SHOTS'
In the middle of her shift at a public hospital on Friday morning, 52-year-old nurse Kwan said she received a panicked call from her older daughter - Khim's sibling - to tell her of a shooting at their school.
Based on conversations on a student chat group that her elder daughter told her about, Kwan - who also asked to be identified by a nickname - said she assessed that the shooter was likely using a handgun.
Still on the phone, she asked her elder daughter to count the shots, estimating that a handgun magazine wouldn't hold more than 15 to 20 rounds: "Count the shots to see if he's out."
Police said the alleged shooter had used at least 26 bullets. Another 34 rounds were found in his possession.
"But it turned out the sound kept getting closer and closer, eventually reaching Building 4, the building my daughter was in," Kwan told Reuters on Saturday.
From another phone, she called an emergency hotline, on which the operator told her that police, including a specialised unit, had arrived at the school.
"I told them, 'Right now, I am on speakerphone with my child. He is on the second floor, clearing rooms one by one from the right side,'" Kwan said.
Without warning, the call with her daughter cut off.
Kwan said she started praying, until her daughter called her back after a few minutes. She was unharmed.
Some hours later, the family were reunited at their home in suburban Bangkok, not far from the school.
"When we are together, we fight all the time," Khim said of her elder sibling. "But seeing her this time, I've never loved her this much before."
(Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Susan Fenton)
