A 14-year-old student armed with a pistol opened fire this morning at an elementary school in central Belgrade, Serbia, killing at least nine people and injuring a number not yet determined by the authorities. Eight victims are students little more than children, the other person killed is the guard of the institute. The police, who rushed to the scene as soon as they received the alarm around 8.30 this morning, arrested the young man.
The school where the episode happened is Vladislav Ribnikar, in the Vracar district of the Serbian capital. The area around the facility has been evacuated. Rescuers arrived on site with several ambulances, many parents arrived in front of the institute as soon as the news spread. The motive is not yet clear, and the police have not provided further details. In Serbia similar mass shootings are very rare, also due to the very stringent laws in the country for access to weapons.
The gun used by the 14-year-old, who is in the seventh grade of primary school, probably belongs to his father. Interviewed by local media, the father of one of the students present at the time of the shooting revealed that the young man had recently joined the class. “He first shot the teacher and then the children who hid under the desks,” he told N1 TV, quoting his daughter’s story.
