Thaivichitsilp Art School in Bangkok’s Chatuchak area has been ordered to close for three days after a bus shooting on Vibhavadi-Rangsit Road left one of its students and a female bystander dead.
Police suspect that shooting was carried out by members of rival Don Muang Technical School and have ordered Thaivichitsilp closed to try to prevent a revenge attack by students. First year student Wanchai Thongsongkaew and 48-year-old woman passenger Yupa Prai-ngam were killed in the attack that left two more youth wounded, the Bangkok Post reported.
“The three-day closure is to observe the situation. We are concerned about possible revenge,” said education permanent secretary Sasithara Pichaicharnnarong.
Yupa’s husband of 15 years Lerngchai, when picking up his wife’s body at the morgue, told the Nation that his wife had often complained of student brawls on the bus route but refused to take an air-conditioned bus because she wanted to save money. He called on authorities to take tougher measures and close schools that couldn’t control their students.
Metropolitan Police Bureau deputy commissioner Pisit Pisutsak said that upon reviewing CCTV cameras, police believed six people carried out the attack. He said that warrants had been issued for their arrest and that police would question about 20 people to help identify the attackers.
