Bangkok: Three die and 14-year-old held over Siam Paragon mall shooting

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Three people have been killed in a shooting at a luxury shopping mall in the centre of the capital, Bangkok, Thai officials say.

Four other people were injured in the incident, including a foreign national.

A suspect, 14, has been arrested after surrendering. He had been using a handgun, police said.

The prime minister said the situation had been brought under control and police were clearing the scene, according to the AFP news agency.

Footage on social media earlier showed shoppers running out of the centre, which was quickly evacuated and had its doors closed.

Nearby Siam metro station was also shut.

People posted videos, apparently taken from inside the mall. In one, four loud noises which sound like gunshots can be clearly heard in the busy complex.

Witnesses also said they had taken to hiding inside shops and bathrooms.

The owner of a store on the mall’s second floor, who was inside at the time of the incident, told the BBC she had heard multiple gunshots.

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has shared his “deepest condolences” with the victims and their families.

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Mass shootings in Thailand are rare, although gun ownership rates are relatively high for the region.

An ex-policeman killed at least 37 people, most of them children, in a gun and knife attack at a childcare centre in in Nong Bua Lamphu province in north-east Thailand in October last year.

In 2020, a soldier killed 29 people and injured dozens more in the city of Nakhon Ratchasima.

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