BURI RAM: Two Mathayom 3 students are being treated in hospital after they were shot by a younger student on Saturday, the second shooting incident involving high school students in less than a week in the province.
The incident took place at a petrol station in tambon Thung Saeng Thong in Nang Rong district. The victims, identified only as A and B, were riding together on a motorcycle with a friend identified only as “Tern”, when they were chased by the suspect, a 13-year-old student from a nearby school and a friend.
As the chase unfolded, the suspect fired a gun at A and B, hitting A in his right leg and B in his pelvis. They are currently being treated at Nang Rong Hospital, said Pol Lt Col Jiraroj Mongkolsupat, investigator at Nang Rong station.
According to Tern, who escaped unhurt, the shooter targeted A and B. He told police he was not aware of any personal conflict between A, B and the suspect.
The suspect, who was later taken to police by his parents, told police the two students were targeted because they had bullied his friends.
Prakob, A’s grandmother, said A occasionally rode with his friends on a motorcycle to buy sweets. She told police she also had no idea what dispute could have driven someone to shoot her grandson.
Mit, the shooter’s father, said his son told him he bought the gun from an online shop although he did not know at what price. He promised not to protect his son if he was found to be in the wrong.
Police were looking for the gun in a pond into which the gunman said he had thrown the weapon after the shooting.
It was the second shooting involving high school students in Buri Ram this month. On March 7, a Mathayom 3 student shot two of his seniors at school in the jurisdiction of Nong Kee station. The shooter has been indicted in the Buri Ram Juvenile and Family Court.