Thai mall shooter's family 'accept responsibility', apologise

THE family of a 14-year-old boy who shot two people dead at a mall in Bangkok apologised on Friday (Oct 6) for their son’s actions, in a statement released by the Thai government.

Police have charged the teenager, who has not been named, with murder over Tuesday’s attack at the Siam Paragon mall, which left five other people wounded.

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin vowed to take “preventive measures” after the shooting – the third high-profile deadly gun attack to hit the kingdom in the last four years.

“We offer our deepest apologies to the victims, the families of the deceased and the injured, from the recent shooting incident that occurred as the result of our son’s actions at the Siam Paragon department store,” said the statement, distributed in Thai, English and Chinese to reporters by the Thai foreign ministry.

“We are deeply saddened and shocked by this incident and accept responsibility as fully as we can.”

The statement, signed by “the father of the juvenile offender”, pledged the family’s full cooperation with the police investigation.

The boy, a student at a US$4,000-a-term private school just metres from Siam Paragon, has been undergoing psychiatric tests to see if he would be fit to stand trial.

Investigators said on Tuesday he had been undergoing treatment for mental illness but had stopped taking his medication and reported hearing voices telling him to shoot people.

The attack was carried out with a blank-firing pistol modified to shoot live rounds. Police have arrested three people suspected of selling a gun and ammunition to the shooter.

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