A nine-year-old schoolboy was killed by a stray bullet when a group of technical-school students ambushed rival students on board a No 113 bus (Min Buri-Hua Lamphong) near Soi Ramkhamhaeng 164 yesterday morning.
Wat Bumpenneu School third-grader Jatuporn Pholphaka sustained gunshot wounds to his face and neck, and was pronounced dead at Kasemrat Hospital.
Jatuporn's mother, Angsu Khamwong, 39, was tearful with grief, prompting sympathy from bystanders who cursed the shooter and the student brawlers.
Angsu, who had three children, said Jatuporn and his 11-year-old brother Pathomporn went to school by this bus every day and she never thought her son could be in danger.
Bus conductor Nittaya Burayao told police the two brothers were about to get off at Soi Ramkhamhaeng 164 when the technical-school students showed up and threw knives and sticks at the crowded bus, attacking rival students sitting in the back of the bus. Amid the chaos, gunshots were heard three times and everyone ducked for safety.
The fatally injured Jatuporn was found on the bus steps, prompting bus driver Piya Detchjorn to speed to the hospital and alert police to the fatal brawl.
Metropolitan Police Area 3 deputy chief Colonel Somboon Phuttaphong said investigations found a group of Bang Kapi Technology College students had attacked students from Min Buri Technical College on the bus and were hunting for them.
In another incident, a 12-year-old schoolgirl was injured by a stray bullet while riding a Bang Phi-Paknam public transport vehicle along Phuttharaksa Road in Samut Prakan's Muang district yesterday morning.
Suthita Luecha, a Mathayom 1 student of Noppakhun Witthaya School, told police the incident took place at about 7am while she was taking the vehicle from Nakhon Thong housing estate to her school. It had stopped to pick up five or six students from Samut Prakan Technical School in front of Wat Phraeksa.
As it passed the No 25 bus terminal, one of about 10 students from Chamni Technical School on the roadside fired a pen gun at the vehicle and the bullet hit her in the right shoulder. The driver took her to a nearby hospital, she said.
After this incident, police rounded up some 30 students from both technology schools, who reportedly were armed and ready to fight, seizing some 20 knives. Police then contacted their teachers to come for them.