Armed, drunk father tried to snatch his child from school

One day after a former police officer killed his wife and child and slaughtered 24 children and 13 others at a daycare centre in Nong Bua Lamphu, another man was stopped and arrested before he could commit a similar act. In the Southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat, an inebriated armed man was arrested near a school trying to grab his child.

The man argued with his wife before storming off under the influence of alcohol to his child’s school in the Ron Phibun district, according to The Phuket Express. Armed with two guns and a supply of bullets, and about 20 methamphetamine pills, he intended to pull the child out of school after the domestic dispute.

Police were already on high alert after the daycare centre massacre the day before when they received notification that the man was on his way to his child’s school in an unstable state. The Central Investigation Bureau Region 5 Police happened to be in the area doing volunteer work in the Khwan Phang sub-district so they raced to the school to intervene.

Residents near the school reported that before police arrived, they heard about four gunshots. Further details were not available whether he fired his gun at someone but there were no injuries reported at the scene.

Responding officers found the man outside the school in his pickup truck when they arrived at the scene. Police tried to convince the agitated man to peacefully surrender and step out of his truck. Instead, the man attempted to flee in his vehicle but, in his erratic state, he did not make it very far.

He crashed into a responding police car as soon as he tried to drive away. The intoxicated man then stumbled out of the pickup truck in front of the school. He tried to pull out a gun tucked in the waist of his pants according to the police on the scene.

Police then tackled him and were able to subdue him and take him into custody. Police recovered bullets and two guns, along with a stash of 17 meth pills from his vehicle.

The man will face a variety of charges at the Ron Phubun Police Station where he was transported from the school after his arrest and where he will remain in custody.