by Eight children and a security guard were killed after a teenager opened fire at a school in the Serbian capital Belgrade on Wednesday, police said.
The suspect, a seventh grader whom police identified only by the initials “KK,” was arrested in the schoolyard, authorities said. They he said he was a student at the school and had fired several shots with his father’s gun.
The motive for the shooting, which left six more children and a teacher injured and hospitalized, was not immediately clear.
Officers responded to reports of a shooting at the Vladislav Ribnikar school around 8:40 a.m. local time Wednesday, police said.
Milan Milosevic, the father of one of the students at Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School, said his daughter “managed to escape” from the shooting.
Speaking to broadcaster N1, he said the suspect had “shot first the teacher and then the children who ducked under the desks,” according to the Associated Press. “She said that she was a quiet child and a good student,” her daughter was quoted as saying, according to the news agency.
Mass shootings in Serbia and the wider Balkan region are extremely rare and none have been reported in schools in recent years.
“I really don’t know what to say. This is a complete tragedy of a society,” Serbian politician Miodrag Gavrilovic said in a cheep reacting to the shooting. “Aggression and violence are at every turn, but if the shooting occurs in an elementary school…”
“I seriously fear for the conscience of our children,” the MP later wrote. “Well, that kid is only a year older than my son. I don’t know. This tragedy affected me deeply personally.”
Local media footage of the scene showed commotion outside the school as police removed the suspect, whose head was covered as officers led him to a parked car on the street.
This is a developing story. Please check for updates.
Associated Press, victoria di gioacchino and kate brannelly contributed.
