NAKHON RATCHASIMA, THAILAND — A Thai soldier went on a shooting rampage over the weekend, killing 29 people in the country's deadliest ever mass shooting.
Sergeant Major 1st Class Jakrapanth Thomma[m][n][o] made his way to his commanding officer's house in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand on Saturday, February 8 at 3:00 p.m.
Local time, where he shot his commander and a woman believed to be a relative of the commander after a dispute, Reuters reports.
An hour later, he went to the Surathampithak army base where he was stationed and killed an army guard before stealing assault weapons, at least one machine gun and roughly 800 rounds of ammunition.
The gunman drove off in a stolen Humvee and stopped at a Buddhist temple as authorities chased him.
He killed around nine people before driving away.
A Thai police officer was also killed during the shooting spree.
The shooter posted updates to Facebook during the shootings, with messages such as "No one can escape death," at 6:30 p.m.
The Thai soldier also live-streamed part of his shooting rampage on Facebook, though the video has since been deleted.
It's unclear which part of the shooting was streamed on the social media platform.
Around 5:30 p.m., the soldier made his way to Terminal 21 shopping mall in Nakhon Ratchasima, where he began to open fire on frightened shoppers in the vicinity.
At least 12 shoppers were shot dead, while dozens were injured.
Twenty minutes after the shooting, the police cordoned off two kilometers of the area around the mall.
A few hours later, Thai security forces stormed the mall and helped hundreds of shoppers escape.
The gunman escaped to the basement of the mall at 12:30 a.m., Sunday.
Authorities continued to search for the soldier throughout the night.
He was located in the basement in the morning at 9:05 a.m., when he was promptly shot dead by security forces.
At least two victims died at the hospital during surgery, while others remain hospitalized, CNN reports, citing Narinrat Pitchayakamin, a Thai public health ministry official.