I was standing in front of my teacher when she was shot, Thai pupil says

On Friday morning, as the last classes of the week were underway, panicked students began streaming out of a prestigious school just outside Bangkok. Inside, police say, a 14‑year‑old boy opened fire. "I was lasting successful beforehand of the teacher erstwhile she was shot," a shaken seventh grader tells the BBC, adjacent the gates of Debsirin School successful Nonthaburi. "She was talking to maine erstwhile [the gunman] showed up." Still in her uniform, with her parent by her side, she explains how the shooter moved from room to room. Authorities say he killed five teachers and injured more than thirty people—including fellow pupils—before turning the gun on himself. Earlier, he had shot his grandparents. Her parent says the girl thought she might die. "[She said] 'I thought I'd ne'er spot you again'." One 18‑year‑old pupil told Reuters he initially thought firecrackers were going off. "I didn't deliberation it was a weapon astatine first," he said. "There were galore shots: bang bang bang. Then it went quiet. Then it started again." Metres from the school gates, paramedics loaded the wounded into ambulances and rushed them to hospital as milling crowds hugged and cried. Rescue worker Kiatikhun Verapongpradith rushed to the scene after proceeding children as young as 12 had been shot. "I saw students who had been shot, immoderate successful the arm, immoderate successful the back, immoderate successful the chest. So I rushed to assistance get them to the infirmary first," the 47‑year‑old rescue idiosyncratic told Reuters quality agency. One grieving teacher told the BBC one of his friends was among the dead. "She was my age. We went to this schoolhouse unneurotic arsenic students. Then we some became teachers astatine this school," the 31‑year‑old, who declined to springiness his name, said.