Kritsana Sola’s mother, Panida Pawanna, 19, was among the family members trying to make sense of the deadly rampage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I heard there was a shooting outside. I did not know the shooter went inside. When I heard I could not stay in place, I rushed in to pick up my son, but it was too late,” she told the ABC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I haven’t talked to anyone yet \u2014 I have two children.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms Pawanna described her almost-three-year-old as a cheerful boy, who liked to play with friends and watch cartoons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“He likes to play cars, he likes dinosaurs very much. He likes eating pizza \u2014 he told me he wanted to have pizza yesterday, I planned to take him out,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I miss him. I could not believe that he is gone. I haven’t seen him yet. I heard that the bodies are at Udon hospital.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hospital officials said autopsies had been completed on Friday, and that the victims’ bodies would be brought back to a local administrative office near the day care centre so that their families could claim them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Government officials and volunteers have flocked to the area, which is one of the poorest communities in Thailand, to offer assistance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some were helping grieving families apply for compensation, while others fetched water and fanned mourners struggling to cope in the heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Psychologists stood by to offer counselling, to help families begin to process their trauma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How massacre unfolded<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
About 12:30pm, local time, on Thursday, a gunman burst through the doors of the daycare centre as children were going down for their nap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He had gone to the centre to collect his child, according to police chief Damrongsak Kittiprapas, and opened fire after he was unable to find his child there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Armed with a shotgun, pistol and knife, the man went on a killing spree before fleeing back to his home to kill his wife and child. He then took his own life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At least 37 people died in the attack, most of them children, some as young as two years of age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the aftermath of the massacre, footage of the centre showed dining tables outside still covered with food and drinks from earlier that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A day after the news broke, the parents of twins \u2014 who died while lying peacefully next to each other \u2014 were so distraught they could barely speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
‘I cannot imagine what your heart was made of’<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Seksan Sriraj’s pregnant wife was a teacher at the centre who was killed in the massacre. She had been due to give birth this month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I cried until I had no more tears coming out of my eyes. They are running through my heart,” he told the AP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sharing a photo of his family on Facebook, he wrote a message to his wife and unborn child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“My wife is now a teacher in heaven,” he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I cannot come to terms with what has happened. I cannot imagine what [the killer’s] heart was made of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I love you mummy and baby, don’t worry about anything, I will take care of your father and mother.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For many in this small community, the sense of shock has been completely overwhelming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prakuan Burawat, 51, is a grandmother of one of the children killed in the massacre. She broke down in tears while trying to make sense of the news. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I heard the news from the TV, then my daughter called me and I came by bus,” she told the ABC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I felt so sad, I fainted. I could not make sense of it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her granddaughter, aged two-and-a-half, was the youngest of three children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thailand’s King and Queen will join Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on a visit to Uthai Sawan later tonight to meet with victims’ families, reflecting just how deeply the attack has been felt throughout the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All Thai people are feeling depressed and saddened by what has happened, Thailand’s deputy prime minister, Don Pramudwinai, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The rural province of Nong Bua Lamphu is one of the poorest areas of Thailand, a majority Buddhist country of about 69 million people.https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/9mp0d\/1\/?abcnewsembedheight=700&dark=false<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mass shootings are rare but Thailand does have some of Asia’s highest rates of gun ownership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Police have speculated that the gunman may have targeted the centre because it was near his home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Authorities later identified him as Panya Kamrap, a former officer in the national police force who had been suspended for drug use in January and sacked in June, according to National Police Chief Damrongsak Kittiprapas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He had been due to appear in court on Friday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Seven of the 10 people who were injured in the attack were still being treated in hospital on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is believed to be one of the world’s deadliest child massacres by a single killer in recent history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kritsana Sola, whose nickname was “Captain”, was a cheerful little boy who loved cartoons and dinosaurs. His life was one of dozens cut devastatingly short yesterday, when a man armed with two guns and a knife stormed a Thai daycare centre. The community of Uthai Sawan has been left reeling in the aftermath of the shocking attack …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":194340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-te-public"],"yoast_head":"\nMassacre among deadliest in Thailand’s history<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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