Teenager used father's pistol
Serbia is in shock from the tragedy that took place in one of the capital's schools. The 13-year-old boy who shot dead eight children in a Belgrade school “had a list of murders.”
Police say the 13-year-old boy who shot dead eight children and a security guard at a school in Serbia had a a list of students he wanted to “liquidate” and four Molotov cocktails in a bag.
As reported by Sky News, the teenage suspect was identified by police as seventh grade student K.K. (due to his age, only his initials are indicated).
Police said he took his father's gun before shooting dead his teacher, then fellow students and a security guard at Vladislav Rybnikar Primary School in the capital Belgrade on Wednesday morning.
The children killed were seven girls and one boy — all between the ages of 11 and 14.
The school's assistant principal called police at 8:40 a.m. local time, while the suspect himself called police two minutes later and said he had shot several people. police said.
Milan Nedeljkovic, mayor of the central Vracar district where the school is located, said the teacher was fighting for her life after she was shot. Six of the injured children were also hospitalized, with one of them, a girl, in a life-threatening condition.
According to the law on juvenile offenders and the criminal protection of minors in force in Serbia, K.K. cannot be prosecuted because he is not yet 14 years old.
His 48-year-old father V.K. was ordered to be held in custody for up to 48 hours on suspicion of committing serious crimes against public safety.
Body bags were seen being taken out of the school after the tragedy, Sky News reports.
Belgrade Police Chief Veselin Milic said at a press conference that the teenage attacker had a list of children he wanted to «liquidate» on his desk at home and had been planning the attack for a month.
Milic said the suspect's plans looked «like a video game or a horror movie» and were very detailed, including the classrooms he was going to enter and which children he was going to target.
Veselin Milic added that the suspect first killed a security guard at a school in central Belgrade, and then three students in a hallway.
The Belgrade police chief said the suspect then entered the classroom — apparently choosing it simply because it was close to the entrance — and opened fire again.
At the time of the attack, the suspect was carrying four Molotov cocktails in his bag.
Mr Milich said those who knew the attacker told police that K.K. was «a model student, a model friend.»
Pictures from the scene show the suspect's head covered as police led him to a nearby car after his arrest.
Serbian Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic said the boy's father was also in custody. The minister said the weapon used in the attack was legal and the father claims it was locked in a safe, but the suspect apparently knew the code.
The head of the Serbian Interior Ministry also said the boy was walking around with his father at the shooting range to practice using firearms.
The Serbian government has declared three days of mourning from May 5 to 7.
Officers wearing helmets and bulletproof vests cordoned off the area after the first mass shooting in Serbia over the past 10 years.
Reports from Serbia said terrified parents arrived at the school trying to find their children. A student who witnessed part of the shooting said she used to be in the same class as the suspect. She said: «He was a quiet guy, he looked good, he had good grades, but we didn't know much about him. He wasn't that open with everyone. I definitely didn't expect that to happen.»
Speaking about what she witnessed as the shooting unfolded, the girl said: «I was downstairs, we had sports practice downstairs, I could hear the shooting. It was non-stop, it wasn't like one shot at a time, it was gunfire.» non-stop. I didn't know what was going on, we were getting some messages on the phone. Some kids from the seventh grade… weren't answering, so we were really scared.»
A girl who studies at the high school next door to Vladislav Rybnikar, told state television channel RTS: «I saw children running out of school screaming. Parents came, they were in panic. Later I heard three shots.»
Mass shootings are comparatively rare in Serbia, which has very strict gun laws. But, Sky News notes, the Western Balkans are awash with hundreds of thousands of illegal weapons since the wars and unrest of the 1990s. Serbian authorities have offered several amnesties to owners who surrender or register illegal weapons.
In the last mass shooting in 2013, a Balkan War veteran killed 13 people in a Serbian village in the central part of the country.
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