NONTHABURI, Thailand: Thailand's prime minister said Tuesday (Aug 11) he had suspended firearms licences after last week's deadly school shooting, as the bodies of the teenage assailant and the grandparents he killed were cremated.Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said he had ordered the interior ministry and police to stop issuing licences to possess, purchase and carry firearms, and called for "tighter controls and decisive penalties".On Friday, a 14-year-old boy shot dead the grandparents who raised him at their home in Nonthaburi, north of Bangkok, before killing six others at his school and then turning the gun on himself.The white caskets of the couple were laid out at the Tem Rak Samakkhi Buddhist temple on Tuesday, alongside their portraits, ahead of their cremation capping a funeral lasting several days.
The boy's smaller casket was placed to the side at the same temple, surrounded by white flowers.Among the mourners was Tawee Piewphong, who paid tribute to his brother-in-law - the grandfather - as "a man of few words, but a very kind person".Speaking to AFP, Tawee expressed shock at the killings, saying he had no idea what motivated the teenager - but also offering compassion."I want to tell him that being 14 is just a small fraction of your entire life, and every problem has a solution. Not everything is the end of the world," the 70-year-old said.He suggested the boy may have killed his grandparents "so they would not be responsible for the actions he was going to take at school later".
