Summary A 14-year-old boy allegedly shot his grandparents and then killed five more people at his school before turning the gun on himself
BANGKOK (Reuters) - The death toll from a school shooting in Thailand rose to nine on Saturday, after police said a 12-year-old girl caught up in Friday's incident had died.
Police at the Plai Bang Police Station in Nonthaburi Province told Reuters the girl had died on Saturday, a day after a 14-year-old boy allegedly shot his grandparents and then killed five more people at his school before turning the gun on himself.
Earlier, Thailand's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on Friday vowed to introduce a new firearms control law in Southeast Asia's largest gun-owning nation.
Anutin, who previously tightened gun laws when he was interior minister, will now propose a law to restrict the carrying of firearms by the public.
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"The new law will only allow government officials on duty to carry guns," he told reporters on Friday, but did not provide any specifics for the envisaged legislation, including whether it will tighten gun ownership requirements.
Under Thai rules, there are separate licenses issued for owning and carrying firearms.
Thailand had an estimated 10.3 million firearms in civilian possession, equating to around 15 guns per 100 residents — the highest rate in the region by a wide margin, according to a 2017 estimate by the Small Arms Survey.
