This Friday (7), the parents of dead Thai children, one by one, laid white roses as a sign of mourning on the steps of the kindergarten, where on Thursday (6) their babies died at the hands of a former policeman.

Some bow their heads, others hug each other for comfort, laying flowers, one for each young life cut short.

Tribute to children with white roses after massacre in Thailand this Friday (7) – Photo: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/ND

The mother collapses in tears and hugs her dead son’s favorite red and yellow blanket, holding a still full bottle of milk.

Outside a kindergarten in a yellow-walled local government building in northeast Thailand, dozens of traumatized parents gather.

The perpetrator of the massacre, Panya Khamrab, recently expelled from the police force, killed at least 36 people, including 23 children, in addition to his wife and son, in a gun and knife attack in one of the worst massacres in history. place in the country.

“Incomprehensible”

Some of the children were only two years old, like little Kamram, whose 19-year-old mother Panita is inconsolable. “This is overwhelming,” she sobs, holding her 11-month-old daughter in her arms.

“He was very sweet, very nice, he always shared his things with other children, with everyone,” says Kamram’s aunt, Naliwan Duangkot, who came to support her sister in the face of tragedy.

The day before the massacre, “he asked us for pizza. We are so sad that we didn’t buy it for him,” Nalivan told AFP.

“The last night he got sick and asked to sleep with his parents and younger sister,” he adds. “We can’t accept that this was your last night.”

Neighbors told the family about the massacre. Panita and her husband quickly drove to the scene on a motorcycle looking for Kamram and were informed of the incident there.

“Everybody knows each other”

As the day passes in the sticky heat, more people flock to the kindergarten, forming a small rural community united in mourning.

Two days ago the children had fun playing. Today adults sit in shock, in incredulous silence, broken only by sobs.

“I was very shocked and scared, I couldn’t sleep, I never thought this could happen to my two grandchildren,” Bouaray Thanonthong, 51, the grandmother of the two three-year-olds killed by the attacker, told AFP.

“The shooter knew everyone. He was a cop. He was a good guy, but later we found out that he used methamphetamine,” says Kamjad Pra-intr, who came to support the families.

“It’s a small community and so we all know each other and we’re like a family, I know three or four kids who died there,” the woman adds.

At Nong Bua Lam Phu Hospital, the nearest town, families of survivors wait outside intensive care units to visit their children and bring them food, diapers and other essentials.