In a horrifying incident that has shocked the world, a former law enforcement officer in Thailand went on a killing rampage Thursday at a childcare center in the northern part of the country, shooting and stabbing his victims and leaving at least 36 dead, including two teachers and 24 children, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Thai police indicated that 34-year-old Panya Kamrab, who was discharged from his professional duties this summer due to an arrest on drug charges, opened fire on some, slashed others, and also killed his own wife, son, and himself, by the time the ordeal ended.

The violence took place in the Nongbua Lamphu province situated roughly 300 miles northeast of the country's capital of Bangkok, as Fox News noted, and local official Jidapa Boonsom explained to Reuters that Kamrab "came in around lunchtime and shot four or five officials at the child care center first" before moving on to target the most vulnerable individuals in the building.

It was then, Jidapa added, that the assailant broke into a locked room where children were sleeping, killing all but one three-year-old girl, who miraculously, according to the New York Post, slumbered throughout the deadly event and went undetected because of the blanket that was over her head.

"It is a miracle from God that saved my niece's life," the girl's uncle, Wutthichai Baothong, said, according to a report from the Viral Press news agency, as the Post noted.

On Friday, the devastating reality of losing so many young lives hit home for their loved ones when victims' bodies arrived at area temples for identification by their parents, as Fox News reported separately.

The senseless barbarity of the deaths was brought into stark relief by the very nature of the injuries the children sustained, with one adult on the scene shouting, "he slashed over here many times, he slashed over here many times," while gesturing to the forehead area.

Seskan Sriraj, whose wife – who was also expecting a baby this month – was one of the daycare employees murdered in the attack, expressed his unfathomable grief by saying, according to the Post, "I cried until I had no more tears coming out of my eyes."

"My wife has fulfilled her every duty as a teacher. Please be a teacher in heaven, and my child please take care of your mother in heaven," he added, in a heartbreaking illustration of the unfathomable grief this needless tragedy has left in its wake.