Following Nakhon Ratchasima's shooting rampage, which left 30 people dead, including the gunman, and 57 others injured, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Sunday ordered a review of security measures at the military's armouries.
"All I can say is if we had fully followed [the standard security procedure], we would have been able to mitigate the degree of violence [in this incident]," said Gen Prayut after a briefing on the weekend's shooting spree.
Commandos on Sunday killed Sgt Maj 1st Class Jakrapanth Thomma after he carried out a shooting rampage in Nakhon Ratchasima that left 30 of his victims dead, police said.
Army chief Gen Apirat Kongsompong, however, said a key mistake that could have led to the weapons being stolen was that Jakrapanth knew the people at the armoury very well and they would have not have expected untoward behaviour from him.
Meanwhile, Gen Prayut responded to questions asking what took authorities so long to end the stand-off by suggesting that the hostages and number of bystanders at the scene had forced the police to act cautiously to prevent further loss of innocent lives.
As for the motive behind the rampage, Gen Prayut said he had learned from investigators that it was a dispute over a house sale involving a relative of Jakrapanth's commanding officer, which arose three days before the shooting incident.
Hours before the attack began on Saturday, the gunman posted on Facebook, denouncing greedy people who took advantage of others and asking, "Do they think they can spend the money in hell?"
The bloodshed began on Saturday afternoon when Jakrapanth shot three people -- among them at least one soldier -- at a senior officer's house and then at the nearby army barracks, before driving an army vehicle to the town centre.
