Thailand school shooting death toll rises to nine after girl dies in hospital

The death toll from the mass shooting in Thailand has risen to nine following the death of a schoolgirl in hospital, according to Australian Broadcasting Corporation reporting. The tragedy, which unfolded on the morning of Friday, 7 August 2026 at the Debsirin Nonthaburi School in Nonthaburi province northwest of Bangkok, has reignited intense debate surrounding firearms control across South-east Asia's largest gun-owning nation.

Authorities and health officials confirmed that the young student succumbed to her wounds after previously being the subject of an urgent blood donation appeal posted by the school on Facebook for two students, including the seventh-grader. According to the Thai Health Ministry, fourteen other individuals remain hospitalized, with seven listed in critical condition. Most of the wounded are children between the ages of 12 and 14, while total injuries across the rampage reached twenty-three victims.

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The rampage began hours before the school attack at dawn, when a 14-year-old student allegedly shot and killed his grandparents at their family home. The teenager then took a bus and travelled approximately 18km to the high school, pulling out a weapon and opening fire just before 10am local time, police said.

Over a span of roughly 40 minutes, the gunman stalked the corridors of the campus—which accommodates more than 3,000 students and nearly 150 teachers, according to data from 2025—ultimately killing three teachers and two school officials before turning the weapon on himself. Police later stated that the suspect had used at least 26 bullets and still possessed an additional 34 rounds.

Inside the classrooms, students and staff endured harrowing conditions. Khim, a 14-year-old student who asked to be identified only by her nickname, recalled hearing initial noises that she and her classmates initially mistook for construction work before a teacher checked a messaging group and verified the active shooter threat.

"I heard multiple gunshots and felt like we weren't going to survive,"

Khim, Student, via The Canberra Times

As the gunman moved through the buildings, students moved desks to block doors, turned off lights, and huddled together near classroom windows. Photos of the alleged suspect circulated rapidly through student chat groups while he stalked through the school. Khim communicated with her tablet, messaging her elder sister who was hiding in a classroom in Building 4 next door, while also receiving a warning text from her mother about the shooter.

I said I knew, and I told her, 'Mum, don't call me, because the ringtone might go off, Khim said, recounting the moments she feared the shooter was targeting rooms indiscriminately or shooting the whole school.

Meanwhile, Khim's mother, a 52-year-old nurse who also asked to be identified by a nickname, was working a shift at a public hospital when she received a panicked phone call from her older daughter about the unfolding attack at their school. Relying on student chat updates passed on by her elder daughter, Kwan assessed that the suspect was likely using a handgun and estimated that a handgun magazine would not hold more than 15 to 20 rounds.

Kwan told her elder daughter on the phone to count the shots to see if the shooter was out. Kwan simultaneously called an emergency hotline, where the operator informed her that a specialised police unit had arrived at the school.

I told them: 'Right now, I am on speakerphone with my child. He is on the second floor, clearing rooms one by one from the right side,' Kwan said, describing how the sound kept getting closer and eventually reached the building her daughter was in before she started praying and eventually reconnecting with her unharmed child.

Hours later, the family was safely reunited at their home in suburban Bangkok, not far from the school. The incident stands as Thailand's worst mass shooting since 2022.