Thais mourn dozens, mainly kids, killed in day care attack

7/10/2022 18:01

        Relatives grieving staggering loss Friday created a makeshift altar of flowers, juice boxes and a stuffed animal at a day care center where a fired police officer slaughtered dozens of people, including preschool children who were napping.
        
        The entire country reeled in the wake of Thursday's grisly knife and gun attack in a small town nestled among rice paddies in one of the nation's poorest regions. At least 24 of the 36 people killed in the assault, Thailand's deadliest mass killing, were children.
        
        A stream of people, including Prime Minster Prayuth Chan-ocha, other government representatives and relatives themselves, have left flowers at the day care center. By afternoon, bouquets of white roses and carnations lined the wall outside, along with five tiny juice boxes, bags of corn chips and a stuffed animal. A faded Thai flag flew at half-staff above.
        
        King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida were expected later in the day to go to hospitals, where seven of the 10 people wounded remain. A vigil was planned in a central park in Bangkok, the nation's capital.