Schoolboy shoots at least eight classmates in Belgrade

A parent consoles her child at a school in Serbia after a shooting. Photo: OLIVER BUNIC/AFP

A 14-year-old girl A boy shot and killed his teacher in a Belgrade classroom on Wednesday morning and then opened fire on other students and guards, killing at least eight students and a guard, the Serbian Interior Ministry said.< /p>

Milan Milosevic, the father of one of the students at the Vladislav Rybnikari Primary School, said his daughter was in the classroom where the shot was fired.

“She managed to escape. (Boy) …First he shot at the teacher, and then he started shooting at random,” Milosevic told N1 TV channel.

Milan Nedeljković, mayor of the central district of Vračar, where the school is located, said doctors were fighting for the teacher's life.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that eight children and a security guard were killed and six children were hospitalized along with the teacher.

A child clings to his mother after being attacked. Photo: OLIVER BUNIC/AFP

The police said that the seventh grader was arrested.

“I saw the guard lying under the table. I saw two girls with blood on their shirts. They say he (the shooter) was quiet and a good student. He recently joined their class,” added Milosevic, who rushed to the school after the shooting.

Police say seventh grader arrested Photo : OLIVER BUNIC/AFP

Police officers in helmets and body armor cordoned off the area around the school.

“I saw children running out of the school screaming. Parents arrived, they were in a panic. Later, I heard three shots,” a student from a secondary school located next to Vladislav Rybnikar told the state television channel RTS.

The victims are helping, and the motives for the shooting are being investigated, police said. statement.

Mass shootings are relatively rare in Serbia, where gun laws are very strict. But the western Balkans have been flooded with hundreds of thousands of illegal weapons since the wars and unrest of the 1990s.

Serbian authorities have announced several amnesties for owners who wish to turn in or register illegal weapons.