Student Shot Dead as Thailand’s Strange Trend of University Gang Violence Resurfaces

A 21-year-old was killed in a drive-by shooting in Bangkok on Saturday in what authorities suspect to be an attack by students from a rival school. 

Kritsana Laemkaeo, a third-year civil engineering student at the Rajamangala University of Technology Tawan-ok Uthenthawai Campus (RMUTTO), was walking along the sidewalk when two men on a motorbike rode past and opened fire. Kritsana tried to run away but was shot in the head, and lay motionless near a bus stop until his friends rushed him to the hospital, local media reported.  

The deadly attack, which took place around 8.40 p.m., was captured on security camera, showing two men wearing white shirts and motorcycle helmets. The attackers are still on the run. Police officials say the shooting was carefully planned, and the gunmen are believed to be from a rival university.

The shooting has reignited attention on student gangs in Thailand, especially in vocational schools where students are taught specifically for jobs like mechanics and electricians. These students have been known to become involved in violent clashes between rival groups stretching back at least a decade—though neither students nor experts know exactly how the grievances began.

What is known is that many of the students come from low-income families—often from outside the city—and are integrated into tight-knit and loyal communities in their schools.

“For me, it was never a question," a former Uthentawai student told VICE News in 2016. “If I see someone from Pathumwan [a rival university], we must fight. And they feel the same towards me.”

Although most of the violence comes in the form of hand-to-hand brawls or knife fights, the use of guns is seemingly becoming more common.

In August last year, over a hundred students from RMUTTO, and its rival Pathumwan Institute of Technology, brawled near a stadium. As chaos broke out, police officers deployed to the scene were unable to prevent the fight, and could only wait for the students to return to their schools. 

Last year, police searched the RMUTTO campus and found knives and firearm ammunition, after a video went viral of students firing a gun into the air in the school compound, sparking condemnation from even the country’s leader Prayut Chan-o-Cha. 

“For all alumni and students, I think it’s enough,” the Thai Prime Minister said in reference to the video. “What they did was to damage the country, society and law and order.”

Thailand has one of the highest gun possession rates in Asia, with around 10.3 million guns recorded in the country as of 2017. At least 6.2 million of these firearms were obtained legally while the rest came from the black market. Thailand's prime minister called for tighter gun laws after a massacre in October saw a man open fire at a preschool before stabbing dozens of sleeping children to death, in the deadliest mass murder by a lone attacker in Thailand’s recent history.

There is no clear motive for Saturday’s shooting. Kritsana’s family told local media that he had always said that he wanted to earn money to support his family, and was not known to have conflicts with other people.

After the attack, RMUTTO announced three days of online learning for its students for their safety, while authorities said they would station officers throughout the campus.

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