NAKHON RATCHASIMA (Thailand): Dozens of terrified shoppers were evacuated from a Thai mall early on Sunday morning as armed police said they had “taken control” of the ground floor of the complex from a gunman who killed at least 20 people.

But authorities did not give any firm details on the whereabouts of the attacker — a junior army officer identified as Sergeant-Major Jakrapanth Thomma.

There were fears the shooter in the Terminal 21 mall in the city of Nakhon Ratchasima, better known as Korat, could try to hide in the panicked crowd.

Police from the Crime Suppression Division urged fleeing shoppers to “raise their hands” and identify themselves on the ground floor “and authorities will evacuate you”.

Gunman kept posting images, videos of attack on his Facebook page

Earlier, Jakrapanth relayed his shooting spree through Facebook posts which charted the attack from army barracks in the city to the mall, where an unknown number of shoppers remained trapped.

“There are about 20 dead,” defence ministry spokesman Kongcheep Tantravanich said.

“Police, military commandos and sharp shooters are surrounding Terminal 21,” he said.

The Thai health minister told reporters around 10 people were already in hospital in a “serious condition”. The bloodshed began on Saturday afternoon when Jakrapanth shot three people — among them at least one soldier — at a nearby army barracks.

“He stole an army vehicle and drove into the town centre,” said police Lt-Col Mongkol Kuptasiri.

He “used a machine gun and shot innocent victims resulting in many injured and dead,” police spokesman Krissana Pattanacharoen said.

Jakrapanth’s motive remains unclear.

But throughout the day he posted images of himself and wrote several posts on his Facebook page as the attack unfolded, including “should I surrender?” and “no one can escape death”.

In one Facebook video — since deleted — the assailant, wearing an army helmet, filmed from an open jeep saying, “I’m tired... I can’t pull my finger anymore” and making a trigger symbol with his hand.

A Facebook spokesperson said “we have removed the gunman’s accounts from our services and will work around the clock to remove any violating content related to this attack as soon as we become aware of it”.

Thailand has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2020