Aug. 7 (UPI) — The death toll in a school shooting in Thailand rose to eight after a 12-year-old girl died of her injuries at the weekend as authorities continue to investigate what motivated a ninth grader to open fire on his teachers and classmates.

Debsirin Nonthaburi School announced the death of Year 7 student Naphаt Chaima on its Facebook page on Saturday.

The school expressed its “deepest condolences and sorrow,” vowing that the administration, faculty, staff, and students would stand with her family in their time of loss and help them get through it.

The other five victims of Friday’s shooting at the middle school in the northwestern suburbs of Bangkok were all teachers. The shooter is also alleged to have shot both his grandparents in their home before going to the school.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul confirmed after the shooting that more than 30 people were injured at the school, eight miles from downtown Bangkok, with around nine of those in critical condition in the hospital.

Anutin said the 14-year-old suspect, a student at the school who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound afterward, was “under stress” and appeared to have meticulously planned the attack.

“Police interrogated his close friend who said the suspect had been under stress” connected to his education, Anutin told reporters at the scene.

“His actions also suggested that he had clearly planned (the shooting),” added Anutin who vowed to tighten the country’s gun laws to only allow government officials on duty to carry.

“This is really bad, it shouldn’t have happened. I don’t just feel sorry for the victims but I feel sorry that this happened. How can this happen in our country,” he said in a short interview at the government house.

“This is why the government do not allow [citizens] to possess firearms,” he added.

Nonthaburi provincial police commander Lt. Col. Dechrapee Kongdee, said the suspected shooter was a ninth grader at the school.

A student in the seventh grade told the BBC she saw a female teacher shot dead in front of her and that the shooter was going from room to room.

“I had to climb over the school fence to escape with other friends,” the girl told the BBC.

English teacher Prompong Namwong, told The Guardian he first became aware of the attack when a terrified student from another class fled into his classroom and he heard other teachers shouting “mass shooting,” prompting him to tell his students to hide beneath their desks.

“The killer, the student, he was running in front of my room. I thought I was going to die for sure.”

Namwong said he held his students in lockdown for about 20 to 30 minutes until someone knocked on the door. He said he feared the worst but it was the police.

“I don’t know what to do. My life has to go on, but right now it’s a very great shock.”

Officials said they understood that the shooter killed his grandparents at their home with his grandfather’s 9mm handgun before heading to his school where he opened fire at about 10 a.m. local time.

Minister of Education Prasert Jantararuangthong said the shooting occurred at Debsirin Nonthaburi School, a public secondary school that serves grades 7 through 12, according to its official website.

Royal Thai Police said a 9mm handgun was found at the scene, reportedly belonging to a family member of the suspected shooter and that he fired 26 rounds ​with another 34 rounds of ammunition recovered, but little else about the shooting was clear.

“Police are conducting a thorough investigation. Further details will be provided as they become available,” said Royal Thai Police.

Police evacuated teachers and students to Chanrat Wittaya School, where parents and guardians were instructed to pick up their children.

“The Royal Thai Police would like to express our condolences to the families of the victims and to offer our support to those injured and those affected by the school shooting incident in Nonthaburi Province,” it said in a statement.

Nonthaburi is one of 76 provinces that with the capital city of Bangkok make up Thailand’s 77 first-level administrative divisions. It is located just north of Bangkok.

“All members of the Debsirin family send their strength and support to the families of those who were lost and those who were injured,” the school said on its Facebook page.

“May we call the spirits of all our children back home to us.”

Jantararuangthong, who was in Ubon Ratchathani Province, said he was arranging his return to Nonthaburi “as quickly as possible so that I can closely monitor and oversee the response.”

“I want to assure everyone that the Ministry of Education will do everything in its power to ensure safety, bring the situation under control and provide the best possible assistance to all those affected,” he said online.

School shootings are rare in Thailand, though the country has experienced several deadly mass shootings in recent years.

In February, one teacher was killed and three people were injured in a school shooting in the southern Thai province of Songkhla.

In October 2022, at least 37 people, including 24 children, were killed in the nation’s worst mass shooting in history.