Survivors recount horror after Thailand massacre
STORY: Shock and horror in Thailand Thursday, as a convoy of ambulances carried away the bodies of 34 people - including 23 children - who were killed in a knife and gun rampage at a daycare center.
Teachers, who narrowly escaped the killing spree, recounted the devastating scene.
"Three of us went out. I thought he wouldn't come in, because two other teachers had died... He held the children... the other teacher, an assistant, we tried telling them but they were on the phone. It all went down really fast. He was slashing the knife, he didn't use the gun, he kept slashing in there. It was all by a knife."
"He didn't say anything. He shot at the door while the children were sleeping... He used his feet to kick the window, then he shot at the door, I thought he got inside. I ran to the kitchen behind. I was in shock. I didn't know what to do."
Authorities said a former police officer carried out the massacre and later returned home to shoot dead his wife and child before turning the gun on himself.
Police said he was dismissed from his post last year over drug allegations and was facing trial on a drugs charge.
Police also said he had been in court earlier in the day, then went to the daycare center to collect his child, but when he did not find him there - the rampage began.
"After inspecting the crime scene, we found that the perpetrator tried to break in and he mainly used a knife to commit the crime by killing a number of small children, while a few survived. Then he got out and started killing anyone he met along the way with a gun or the knife until he got home. We surrounded the house and then found that he committed suicide in his home."
It's one of the world's worst child death tolls in a massacre by a single killer in recent history. A local official told Reuters the age range of children at the daycare center was from two to five years old.
A district official told Reuters that about 30 children were at the daycare center, fewer than usual because of heavy rain.
