8 fatally shot in Serbia, a day after 9 killed
Authorities move to strengthen gun control measures
BELGRADE — A shooter killed at least eight people and wounded 13 in a drive-by shooting in a town close to Belgrade late Thursday, the second such mass killing in Serbia in two days, state television reported.
The attacker used an automatic weapon to shoot randomly at people near the town of Mladenovac, about 30 miles south of the capital, the RTS report said early Friday. Police were looking for the 21-year-old suspect who fled, the report said.
Serbian Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic called the shooting “a terrorist act,” the report said.
Special police and helicopter units have been sent to the region as well as ambulances, it added.
No other details were immediately available, and police had not issued any statements.
The shooting followed a rampage at a school Wednesday in Belgrade in which a 13-year-old boy used his father’s guns to kill eight of his schoolmates and a school guard. The bloodshed sent shockwaves through a nation unused to such mass murders.
Dozens of Serbian students, many wearing black and carrying flowers, paid silent homage Thursday to peers killed a day earlier.
The students filled the streets around the school in central Belgrade as they streamed in from all over the city. Earlier, thousands had lined up to lay flowers, light candles, and leave toys to commemorate the eight children and the school guard who were killed on Wednesday morning.
People cried and hugged outside the school as they stood in front of heaps of flowers, small teddy bears, and soccer balls. A gray-and-pink toy elephant was placed by the school fence along with messages of grief, and a girl’s ballet shoes hung from the fence.
The Balkan nation is struggling to come to terms with what has happened. Though awash with weapons left over from the wars of the 1990s, mass shootings still have been extremely rare, and this is the first school shooting in Serbia’s modern history.
The tragedy also sparked a debate about the general state of the nation following decades of crises and conflicts whose aftermath has created a state of permanent insecurity and instability, along with deep political divisions.
Authorities on Thursday moved to boost gun control, as police urged citizens to lock up their guns and keep them safe, away from children. Police said that the teen used his father’s guns to carry out the Wednesday attack. He had planned it for a month, drew sketches of classrooms, and made lists of the children he planned to kill, police said on Wednesday.
The boy, who had visited shooting ranges with his father and apparently had the code to his father’s safe, took two guns from the safe where they were stored together with the bullets, police said on Wednesday.
“The Ministry of Interior is appealing to all gun owners to store their guns with care, locked up in safes or closets so they are out of reach of others, particularly children,” police said in a statement that also announced tightened controls on gun owners in the future.
The shooting on Wednesday morning in Vladislav Ribnikar primary school also left seven people hospitalized — six children and a teacher. One girl who was shot in the head remains in a life-threatening condition, and a boy is in serious condition with spinal injuries, doctors said on Thursday morning.
To help people deal with the tragedy, authorities announced they were setting up a helpline. Hundreds answered a call to donate blood for the wounded victims. A three-day mourning period will begin Friday morning.
The shooter, whom the police identified as Kosta Kecmanovic, has not given any motive for his actions.
Upon entering his school, Kecmanovic first killed the guard and three students in the hallway. He then went to the history classroom, where he shot the teacher before turning his gun on the students.
Kecmanovic then unloaded the gun in the school yard and called the police, although the police had already received an alert from a school official. When he called, Kecmanovic told duty officers he was a “psychopath who needs to calm down,” police said.
Those killed were seven girls, one boy, and the school security guard. One of the girls was a French citizen, France’s foreign ministry said.
Authorities have said that Kecmanovic is too young to be charged and tried. He has been placed in a mental institution while his father has been detained on suspicion of endangering public security because his son got ahold of the guns.