NAKHON RATCHASIMA: Terminal 21 reopened for business on Thursday after the shopping centre was shut down by a gunman on Saturday, during a rampage that claimed 30 lives and left 58 people wounded.
Shopowners, well-wishers and officials first gathered at the mall in Muang district for a morale boosting "Korat Strong Together" event. It started with a merit-making rite by 219 monks, followed by chanting for good luck and a bai si blessing ceremony.
Many posters on social media made a point of promising to continue patronising the shopping complex, despite the weekend's nightmare events.
"Give everybody working at the mall my support to get through what has happened," Charto de Pratunam wrote on a Facebook account.
"When you don't leave the people of Korat, we won't leave you, either," Ittipon Weangsantia wrote.
Terminal 21 was the centre of the carnage on Saturday and into Sunday, as Sgt Maj 1st Class Jakrapanth Thomma sprayed hundreds of bullets at people shopping and working there after beginning his killing spree in an army camp.
He took 29 lives and hurt 58 others before police commandos shot him dead on Sunday morning.
Prasert Sriurarnpong, managing director of Siam Retail Development Co Ltd, the mall’s operator, said all sections operated normally from Thursday except Foodland Supermarket and its Took Lae Dee food shop.
He said the company would give 100,000 baht each to the families of the dead victims and those wounded, as well as 50,000-baht scholarships to the children of the deceased.
Rentals for all 500 shops at the mall will also be waived for a month, he said, adding the company will also hold marketing campaigns to help them boost sales.
