The 13-year-old suddenly opened fire early in the morning in a classroom at the Vladislav Ribnikar School in Belgrade. According to eyewitness accounts, he first shot a teacher, then randomly into the crowd. In addition to the fatalities, there were also several injuries, some of whom were in mortal danger. After the shots were fired, the perpetrator himself called the police and was arrested in the schoolyard.
The mayor of the central district of Vracar, where the school is located, said the school’s security guard got in the way of the gunman, likely preventing further casualties. The security guard “wanted to prevent the tragedy, and he was the first victim,” Nedeljkovic told journalists in front of the school building.
Vucic: “One of the hardest days” in Serbian history
“This is one of the most difficult days in modern Serbian history,” President Aleksandar Vucic told the press in the evening. Serbia is united in mourning. The government announced a three-day state mourning from Friday to Sunday, as Education Minister Branko Ruzic announced at a press conference. Condolences also came from abroad, including from Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP).
A minute’s silence is also to be held in all schools in the country on Thursday. Gun violence is extremely rare in Serbian schools. In the Balkan country, the purchase and possession of a firearm is legal with a permit.
Apparently there were also incendiary devices
A motive for the crime was not known. The 13-year-old, who is said to have shot his father’s pistol and also had incendiary devices with him, was described by colleagues as a good student. He was in seventh grade. In Serbia, elementary school lasts eight years. You start school at the age of seven.
Media reports said that a bad grade in history could trigger the attack. Therefore, it was assumed that the target of the attack could be the history teacher. According to the university clinic, the 53-year-old teacher suffered an abdominal wound and wounds on both hands. According to the mayor, doctors were fighting for the teacher’s life.
Killed in school shooting
A 13-year-old student shot at his school in the Serbian capital of Belgrade, killing eight children and a security guard. A teacher and six other children were injured and taken to the hospital.
Long planned
According to Veselin Milic, the police chief in the capital, the first police findings show that the 13-year-old attacker had been preparing his crime for months. The police secured a list of “students for liquidation” from him. Sketches and plans were found on his desk that “looked like something out of a horror film or video game”.
He is said to have planned not only to open fire in his school class, but also to shoot around in a few others. As Minister of Education Ruzic confirmed, there had been a complaint about bullying some time ago, the victim of which the attacker was said to have been, but that was not linked to elementary school, but to a private acting school. The police are working flat out to “clarify all the facts and circumstances that led to this tragedy,” the interior ministry said.
Father arrested too
Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic announced that the suspect’s father, who owned the guns, was also arrested. “The father claims the guns were locked in a safe, but apparently the guy knew the code because he was able to take the pistols and three magazines of 15 rounds each,” Gasic said.
Messages of condolence were sent to Belgrade on Wednesday from all over the world, including from Austria. “As a family man, the terrible events in a primary school in Belgrade, in which eight innocent children and one adult died, make me deeply saddened,” tweeted Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP). “My sincere condolences to the families and especially the parents of the victims.”
