BANGKOK: Gunshot after gunshot rang out on Tuesday (Oct 3) at Bangkok’s Siam Paragon mall, the scene of a shooting incident that killed two people.
Witnesses described the chaos as the attack unfolded.
“At around 4.30pm, I heard loud gun noises, continuously, about 10 times,” Thanpawasit Singthongkham, 31, who works at a Japanese restaurant in the mall, told AFP.
“Then the department store announced that there was a shooting. The emergency sign was turned on and everyone ran to get out.”
He shared footage of terrified shoppers scrambling under metal security gates blocking shop entrances, before they fled down emergency stairwells as sirens blared.
“I heard about five shots firing and everybody was just running and running – it just got all over the place,” said eyewitness Gautam Vora who was with his wife and baby.
“Everybody was screaming and running.”
“I WAS THINKING IF I WOULD DIE”
A 50-year-old housewife told CNA that there was confusion about what happened at first. Ms Nucharee Sorntong was on the fifth floor of the mall to attend an event when the shooting took place.
“They told us there was an irregular incident. At first, I didn’t know because they didn’t say what it was but then I checked the news online,” she said.
“There must have been a few hundreds of people in the room. All the doors were shut.”
She later fainted in the restroom because she was too afraid.
“I was thinking if I would die if the shooter came for me in the restroom,” she said.
Two people – Chinese and Myanmar nationals – were killed, National Police Chief Torsak Sukvimol told reporters. Five others were wounded.