The Crime Suppression Division reported at 11.40 pm  that its commander Pol Maj Gen Jirapob Puridej and members of “Hanumarn” crack police unit have stormed the ground floor of Terminal 21 shopping mall in downtown Nakhon Ratchasima in which a heavily-armed gunman is being holed up after going on a shooting spree that has killed at least 17 people.

It said the police team helped a number of shoppers trapped inside the shopping mall leave the compound safely.

It’s still unclear on which floor or where the gunman, Sgt-Maj Jakrapanth Thomma, is in hiding.