A criminologist has warned against drawing quick conclusions about the motives behind a school shooting at Debsirin Nonthaburi School in Bang Kruai district, Nonthaburi, which left many people injured and dead.

The incident involved a Mathayom 2 male student, who opened fire on fellow pupils and teachers inside the school. Details of the suspected gunman's motive have not been confirmed by authorities.

Speaking on 7 August, criminologist and academic Ajarn Trin Phothiraksa said Thailand needed to learn serious lessons from such attacks, but stressed that claims about mental illness, bullying, resentment towards teachers or violent games should not be treated as fact without evidence.

Motive and risk factors must be separated

Trin said behavioural criminology distinguishes between a motive and risk factors. Bullying, family problems or mental health difficulties may be relevant factors, he said, but do not automatically lead a person to carry out a shooting.

He said information known so far pointed to several possible issues, including long-term bullying, alleged harassment by a group of students, a dispute involving a girl who reportedly complained to a teacher, and the student's reported viewing of overseas murder and mass-shooting videos on YouTube.

However, he said these were only possible explanations and should not be treated as established until properly investigated. The gunman died after the incident.

Trin also questioned why people in the gunman's household had been killed if his intended grievance was against people at school. He said it was an unusual aspect of the case and that outsiders could not know the offender's state of mind at the time.

Calls for metal screening and school psychologists

The weapon was owned by the student's grandfather, raising questions about gun storage and access by children. Trin said cases in which young people use firearms belonging to parents or relatives as weapons or for threats were a repeated warning for families.

He proposed metal detectors and weapons screening at places with large numbers of people, including schools, hospitals and cinemas, rather than restricting such systems to airports, Government House and parliament.

Citing figures previously reported by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, he said offences against life and bodily integrity committed by children and young people rose about 58.7% between fiscal years 2019 and 2023. Weapons-related cases rose about 92.1%, with most offenders of secondary-school age.

Trin said schools should have psychologists and counselling rooms, while teachers should speak with pupils and parents on both sides when bullying is reported. He added that games themselves were not inherently to blame, though violent content could act as a trigger for children who were already vulnerable.

Picture courtesy of Amarin

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8 August 2026

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A criminologist has warned against drawing quick conclusions about the motives behind a school shooting

Makes no difference to the deceased victims what their killer's motives were... they're still dead.

What we can say quickly is they died because the alleged perpetrator (ha!) had easy, quick access to a gun.

FULL STOP.

That's a telegraph term for you young ones not acquainted with 19th century tech terminology. 🤗

Although I essentially agree with criminologist and academic Ajarn Trin Phothiraksa's comments, the reality is that Thailand lacks adequate social and mental health support services. The "traditional" almost "universal" Thai family, village, community support structures are largely (note largely, not totally) absent from contemporary Thailand.

The world is rapidly changing rapidly, and in every country many people are struggling to cope with daily life pressures.

Thailand should be putting more resources into providing adequate social and mental health support services - but that change will not come soon.

Sadly, over many decades, the majority of Thai psychologists I have known end up working in the advertising sector, rather than in social or mental health support services.

2 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

A criminologist has warned against drawing quick conclusions about the motives behind a school shooting

Makes no difference to the deceased victims what their killer's motives were... they're still dead.

What we can say quickly is they died because the alleged perpetrator (ha!) had easy, quick access to a gun.

FULL STOP.

That's a telegraph term for you young ones not acquainted with 19th century tech terminology. 🤗

No, you're partly not right.

It is indeed important to know why this boy needed a gun to solve his problem, no matter where the gun was nor to whom the gun belonged.

It's important to learn from this incident how to prevent similar cases in the future. Counselling rooms and private talk with a teacher in provided school areas is also important.

For the victim's families it might be even important to know why it happened.

This was not a crime, it was stress related according to Anutin:

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2026/08/08/anutin-blames-stress-at-scene-of-fridays-school-massacre-told-reporters-no-crime-was-committed/

I used to be in charge of firearms licensing for a UK police force. Massive effort was put into background checks, demanding security measures such as lockable cabinets, and regular monitoring of behaviour. I even (temporarily) removed the certificates and possession of firearms from a serving police officer having marital problems.

Introduction of similar measures in Thailand coupled with effective enforcement would control both the legal possession and the illegal market in firearms. Unfortunately whilst adequate laws exist, I don’t have faith in enforcement being applied any time soon.

This man listed things that others shouldn't jump to conclusions about, then listed pretty much the same things that likely motivated the shooter, which have all been listed in other topics here. This type of crime has happened so much in America, that not only Americans understand the motives behind it but as seen here, a Thai criminologist does also, who get their educations from things established in western countries, just like their judicial system.

School shootings have happened, and been explained why, for decades now, and it all comes down to the same factors.

Bullying, either in person or cyber, or both. Abuse at home, along with parental neglect. Suicidal ideations along with that anger towards others who he feels have hurt him, taking them out before himself, as has happened so many times before. particular targets sometimes but the system in general, in this case the school that failed him by not protecting him against that bullying.

The grandparents first, possibly because the bullying started there. Absent parents, who left the grandparents in charge, having him believed his own parents didn't care. Other mass shooters have also started at home, killing their own family members.

The shooters almost always give signs before they act. This one spoke of being bullied to someone, who did what to curtail it? If it continued unabated, obviously not much .

A history of researching school shootings, so the school was a target after his grandparents.

Metal detectors will stop school shooting inside the premises, but he could wait outside until school was over.

That some trigger put him over the edge is how it always happens, but this was a planned attack, him waiting for the right moment. All things against him in his life had them come to this point in time.

Psychologists should be available for all schools, to help the students cope with teen problems,as it's one of the most stressful times in our lives. All it can take is someone that listens to prevent tragedies from happening. Then stopping the inevitable bullying that happens in all schools worldwide as soon as it starts.

Teens that know someone will listen have a place to go when no one at home will listen, if they're available at all.

Edited August 8Aug 8 by fredwiggy

10 minutes ago, Classic Ray said:

I used to be in charge of firearms licensing for a UK police force. Massive effort was put into background checks, demanding security measures such as lockable cabinets, and regular monitoring of behaviour. I even (temporarily) removed the certificates and possession of firearms from a serving police officer having marital problems.

Introduction of similar measures in Thailand coupled with effective enforcement would control both the legal possession and the illegal market in firearms. Unfortunately whilst adequate laws exist, I don’t have faith in enforcement being applied any time soon.

You are right.

Unfortunately, no matter how much discussion or announced well meaning initiatives to try and understand and prevent such incidents happening again, the reality is that there will be a lack of enforcement over any new regulations and little follow through on initiatives such as counseling.

In my experience, in Thailand if it’s not a quick fix, lessons learned from incidents such as this are quickly forgotten.

At least, so far, no one has suggested that the solution is to start giving teachers guns. That course of action espoused in a country that shall not be named is absolute lunacy.

Edited August 8Aug 8 by wensiensheng

3 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

A criminologist has warned against drawing quick conclusions about the motives behind a school shooting

Makes no difference to the deceased victims what their killer's motives were... they're still dead.

What we can say quickly is they died because the alleged perpetrator (ha!) had easy, quick access to a gun.

FULL STOP.

That's a telegraph term for you young ones not acquainted with 19th century tech terminology. 🤗

Thailand needs to review it's gun laws and guns should have to be stored in proper gun lockers with respsonseability on the gun owner as this is law in NZ and many countries, I've seen kids with dad the cops gun carried under the bike seat and know of people who have bought stolen guns through a policemans GF

1. A potential lack of parenting. Or parents who are absent or lacking any parenting skills. Don't have kids if you can't look after them. Period.

2. The grandfather was not cautious with his guns. He needs to be charged and imprisoned for the rest of his life.

3. Even if the problems this piece of crap kid had were known, the extreme lack of mental health access here could have prevented anything being done about it.

4. The extreme weakness that comes from the practice or face means that even if the bullying was reported, there may have been no consequences. Likewise it might have prevented counseling of the creep himself. One of the many consequences of a predominantly tribal culture. In my opinion, of course.

2 minutes ago, kiwikeith said:

Thailand needs to review it's gun laws and guns should have to be stored in proper gun lockers with respsonseability on the gun owner as this is law in NZ and many countries, I've seen kids with dad the cops gun carried under the bike seat and know of people who have bought stolen guns through a policemans GF

That's one that America needs to enact immediately, which will curtail many gun crimes. No access, no shooting.

3 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

A criminologist has warned against drawing quick conclusions about the motives behind a school shooting

Makes no difference to the deceased victims what their killer's motives were... they're still dead.

What we can say quickly is they died because the alleged perpetrator (ha!) had easy, quick access to a gun.

FULL STOP.

That's a telegraph term for you young ones not acquainted with 19th century tech terminology. 🤗

Stupid commednt.

FULL STOP.

39 minutes ago, anchadian said:

This was not a crime, it was stress related according to Anutin:

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2026/08/08/anutin-blames-stress-at-scene-of-fridays-school-massacre-told-reporters-no-crime-was-committed/

Just more ignorance from one of the most pathetic men in the history of Thai politics, who happens to be leading this nation into oblivion, right now.

How this goon ever rose to this position says alot about how broken the system is here.

3 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

A criminologist has warned against drawing quick conclusions about the motives behind a school shooting

Makes no difference to the deceased victims what their killer's motives were... they're still dead.

What we can say quickly is they died because the alleged perpetrator (ha!) had easy, quick access to a gun.

FULL STOP.

That's a telegraph term for you young ones not acquainted with 19th century tech terminology. 🤗

Here we go again....blame it on the guns instead of a kid with behavioral issues! If a kid with a sick mind wants to kill and can't get a gun, he'll use a knife or a hammer or any number of other tools available to him. Somebody knew this kid had problems, and nobody spoke up.

5 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

1. A potential lack of parenting. Or parents who are absent or lacking any parenting skills. Don't have kids if you can't look after them. Period.

2. The grandfather was not cautious with his guns. He needs to be charged and imprisoned for the rest of his life.

3. Even if the problems this piece of crap kid had were known, the extreme lack of mental health access here could have prevented anything being done about it.

4. The extreme weakness that comes from the practice or face means that even if the bullying was reported, there may have been no consequences. Likewise it might have prevented counseling of the creep himself. One of the many consequences of a predominantly tribal culture. In my opinion, of course.

# 2 line - my thai guy at work yesterday told me the kid killed both the grandpa and grandma at home first before he went to the school - so the grandpa has already paid the price if this is the case

42 minutes ago, Classic Ray said:

Unfortunately whilst adequate laws exist, I don’t have faith in enforcement being applied any time soon.

Same everywhere. Action and plans, but at the end only for show.

46 minutes ago, newbee2022 said:

No, you're partly not right.

It is indeed important to know why this boy needed a gun to solve his problem, no matter where the gun was nor to whom the gun belonged.

It's important to learn from this incident how to prevent similar cases in the future. Counselling rooms and private talk with a teacher in provided school areas is also important.

For the victim's families it might be even important to know why it happened.

There's a HUGE problem having Thai teachers do anything other than teach (that ability is still out for judgement). None of these people have the street smarts or brains to deal with issues.

Also getting parents to come in is a dream.

Hiring counselors would be go but the ones they will get are bottom of the barrel.

Setting up detectors is probably the best way although if someone wants to get something in they will

33 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

You are right.

Unfortunately, no matter how much discussion or announced well meaning initiatives to try and understand and prevent such incidents happening again, the reality is that there will be a lack of enforcement over any new regulations and little follow through on initiatives such as counseling.

In my experience, in Thailand if it’s not a quick fix, lessons learned from incidents such as this are quickly forgotten.

At least, so far, no one has suggested that the solution is to start giving teachers guns. That course of action espoused in a country that shall not be named is absolute lunacy.

I agree- and we all know that TIT- so the right thing may be said but in reality very little will change even when the reason for this tragedy is known

48 minutes ago, anchadian said:

This was not a crime, it was stress related according to Anutin:

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2026/08/08/anutin-blames-stress-at-scene-of-fridays-school-massacre-told-reporters-no-crime-was-committed/

Not a crime ? Really ? I find it hard to believe anyone would say this. It is a horrific crime whatever the underlying circumstances/motives.

11 minutes ago, shrimpythailand said:

# 2 line - my thai guy at work yesterday told me the kid killed both the grandpa and grandma at home first before he went to the school - so the grandpa has already paid the price if this is the case

You are correct. Had he survived he should have been tried and convicted of aiding the crime.

1 minute ago, kingstonkid said:

There's a HUGE problem having Thai teachers do anything other than teach (that ability is still out for judgement). None of these people have the street smarts or brains to deal with issues.

Also getting parents to come in is a dream.

Hiring counselors would be go but the ones they will get are bottom of the barrel.

Setting up detectors is probably the best way although if someone wants to get something in they will

Getting parents involved here would take some extreme doing, seeing a majority of the kids don't have an active father in their lives, and getting the farmers to come in to do anything besides picking their children up after school would be another problem.

At my daughter's school, talking with the supervisor, she told me many of the kids have no dads around at all, and a lot are raised by grandparents, with the moms elsewhere working. I've seen this all the time I've lived here when I pick up my daughter at school.

Granted, that way it's hard to know all of what's going on in certain households, but when you spend a lot of time in the village, going to funerals and such, you see who's taking care of the kids. What my daughter learns at school is also minimal compared to what she will back home. They have the Thai pride with some things, but the learning is way behind.

It's always just another issue with "face". You "lose face", so you want to kill. You can't "get face" so you want to kill. You can't report the kid for behavioral issues or "the family will lose face". The kid can't ask for help or "he'll lose face". It's the most ridiculous thing I have ever witnessed, and instead of being a force for good, it always ends up being a force for bad in any society that makes "face" their priority.

There be been some excellent responses to this news item, but the core point stands: this surge isn’t just “kids these days”.

It’s the collision of household weapon access, a lingering Siamese heroic tradition that still valorises standing one’s ground, and modern youth under constant pressure.

When teens are stressed, poorly supported, and surrounded by tools that turn impulse into injury, incidents like this are bound to happen.

School counsellors help, but they don’t fix the home environment or the cultural framing that normalises escalation. The real issue is how thin the line has become between everyday teenage conflict and serious harm.

The bottom line sadly, is that there is no quick fix to this.

1 hour ago, Classic Ray said:

I used to be in charge of firearms licensing for a UK police force. Massive effort was put into background checks, demanding security measures such as lockable cabinets, and regular monitoring of behaviour. I even (temporarily) removed the certificates and possession of firearms from a serving police officer having marital problems.

Introduction of similar measures in Thailand coupled with effective enforcement would control both the legal possession and the illegal market in firearms. Unfortunately whilst adequate laws exist, I don’t have faith in enforcement being applied any time soon.

Unless you were routinely removing the license of parents with teen kids, your checks would have been worthless in this case.

1 hour ago, anchadian said:

This was not a crime, it was stress related according to Anutin:

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2026/08/08/anutin-blames-stress-at-scene-of-fridays-school-massacre-told-reporters-no-crime-was-committed/

I don't think describing it as "not a crime" was appropriate.

The article did explain that because "the suspect died during the incident. Consequently, no criminal proceedings can occur regardless of his precise age. Legal specialists distinguish between the commission of an offence and the criminal responsibility of the offender. Against that legal background, the Prime Minister’s remarks are understood as referring to criminal liability rather than the legal status of the killings themselves" but I think that explanation would be lost on those griefing and the comment would have been better unsaid.

1 hour ago, Classic Ray said:

I used to be in charge of firearms licensing for a UK police force. Massive effort was put into background checks, demanding security measures such as lockable cabinets, and regular monitoring of behaviour. I even (temporarily) removed the certificates and possession of firearms from a serving police officer having marital problems.

Introduction of similar measures in Thailand coupled with effective enforcement would control both the legal possession and the illegal market in firearms. Unfortunately whilst adequate laws exist, I don’t have faith in enforcement being applied any time soon.

All good points.

Current Thai gun law does not specify that guns / ammunition must be kept in a suitably secure manner in the home.

4 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

Makes no difference to the deceased victims what their killer's motives were... they're still dead.

Agree 100%. This was my immediate reaction. A school must be a safe place for everyone. If that means gun control, so be it!!

many or most of these school shooters are on SSRI

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

The grandfather was not cautious with his guns. He needs to be charged and imprisoned for the rest of his life.

GF is deeeed. Still wanna put him in jail?!!!!!

13 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Unless you were routinely removing the license of parents with teen kids, your checks would have been worthless in this case.

Unfortunately true. Reliance on "perfect" parents is unrealistic.