KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 — Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail today expressed ‘shock and horror’ at a mass shooting rampage in Thailand which claimed 20 lives and was broadcasted on Facebook.
She said the world has no place for people who commit heinous crimes, and that social media cannot be used as a tool by such criminals.
“My deepest condolences go out to the families and loved ones of those who perished,” Dr Wan Azizah said after a Chinese New Year open house jointly organised by the Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association and the Islamic Development Department at Quill City Mall.
“I pray for those injured to have strength in enduring this tribulation, and for their speedy recovery.
“The people of Malaysia stand with the people of Thailand during this painful period,” Dr Wan Azizah said.
The gunman, identified as junior army officer Sergeant-Major Jakrapanth Thomma, recorded the incident at the Terminal 21 shopping mall in Thailand’s northeastern city Nakhon Ratchasima on his Facebook Live, after which the videos and his account were taken down several hours after he began.
Believed to be angry over a dispute with a senior officer concerning a land deal, Jakrapanth was reported to have first shot three people at a senior officer’s house and the nearby barracks.
He then drove an army vehicle to the town centre with firearms stolen from the barrack’s arsenal, and subsequently opened fire in the crowded mall using a machine gun, according to a Thai police spokesman.
Jakrapanth, who also made posts on his Facebook account while carrying out the act, was eventually shot dead early this morning by Thai commandos, nearly 17 hours after the incident began.
