Teenage shooter kills at least 9 in Belgrade, police say | DW News

Police said eight children and a security guard were killed when a teenage boy opened fire at a school in Serbia's capital of Belgrade on Wednesday. At least six additional children and one teacher were also injured and are receiving emergency treatment. The Interior Ministry said the 14-year-old assailant used his father's gun in the shooting at the Vladislav Ribnikar elementary school, whose students would typically range in age from 6 to 15. "The police sent all available patrols immediately to the spot and arrested a suspected minor — a seventh grade student who is suspected of firing several shots from his father's gun in the direction of students and school security," the ministry said in a statement. Police were investigating a motive. "All police forces are still on the ground and are intensively working to shed light on all the facts and circumstances that led to this tragedy," the ministry added.

Police said they responded to a call about the shooting around 8:40 a.m. local time. "I was able to hear the shooting. It was non-stop," a student who was in a sports class downstairs when the gunfire erupted. "I didn't know what was happening. We were receiving some messages on the phone." One of the children who witnessed the shooting told her father she was in the classroom when the shooting began. "She managed to escape. (The boy) ...first shot the teacher and then he started shooting randomly," the girl's father, Milan Milosevic, told broadcaster N1. Milosevic rushed to Vladislav Ribnikar elementary school when the shooting was first reported. "I saw the security guard lying under the table. I saw two girls with blood on their shirts. They say he (the shooter) was quiet and a good pupil. He recently joined their class," he said. Footage from the scene showed commotion outside the school as police removed the suspect, whose head was covered as officers led him to a car parked in the street.

Mass shootings are rare in Serbia and purchasing a firearm requires a special permit. However, many firearms left over from the wars of the 1990s are still in circulation. The last mass shooting in Serbia happened in 2015 when Sinisa Zlatic killed five people and wounded twenty-two with an assault rifle in a cafe in the town of Zitiste.

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