Student, 13, arrested as Serbian school shooting leaves 9 dead
Police believe suspect learned code to the safe where his father's gun was stored
A 13-year-old who opened fire Wednesday at a school in Serbia's capital drew sketches of classrooms and made a list of children he intended to kill in a meticulously planned attack, police said. He killed eight fellow students and a school guard before being arrested.
Mass shootings are extremely rare in the Balkan region, although Serbia is awash in guns left over from the wars of the 1990s. No mass shootings have been reported at Serbian schools in recent years.
The shooter first killed a guard at the school in central Belgrade and then three students in a hallway of the Vladislav Ribnikar school, according to senior police official Veselin Milic.
He then entered a history classroom close to the school entrance and opened fire again, Milic said.
Seven girls and one boy were killed, he said.
The victims included a girl with French citizenship, French foreign ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre said in a statement. She provided no other details.
Another woman, Ljiljana Radicevic, told The Associated Press that her granddaughter was also killed in the shooting.
Her granddaughter was near the school entrance when the assailant shot the school guard, after which "he shot at my Ana," said Radicevic, who did not identify the girl's full name or age.
"As soon as she did not answer, I knew it was over."
Six children and a teacher were also hospitalized. Two children remained in serious condition after hours-long surgeries, doctors said later Wednesday.
The assailant called police himself after the attack was over. Authorities also received a call reporting the shooting two minutes earlier.
The father of a student said the shooter entered his daughter's classroom, then fired at her teacher and classmates as they ducked under their desks. Most students escaped through a back door, according to a local official.
Milic said the shooter planned the attack for a month. Authorities said they did not know a motive for the shooting.
Mass shootings rare in Serbia
The rarity of such attacks added to the shock many felt. Commentators on television and officials repeatedly said it was the kind of thing they expected to read about happening elsewhere.
In the last mass shooting, a Balkan war veteran in 2013 killed 13 people, including family members and neighbours, in a central Serbian village.
Police identified the Vladislav Ribnikar shooter as a 13-year-old student at the school.
He can't face criminal charges because he is under 14, the Belgrade prosecutor's office said. Social services will determine what happens to him.
He carried two guns belonging to his father — at least one a handgun — and four Molotov cocktails, officials said.
Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic said the weapons were licensed and kept in a safe but that the teen apparently knew the code. The father was also arrested but has yet to be charged.
Authorities declared three days of nationwide mourning starting Friday. People left flowers and lit candles at a outside the school.
"Today is one of the toughest days in Serbia's modern history," said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who addressed the nation in a sombre manner, crying occasionally. "Unfortunately, Serbia is united in grief."
'Non-stop' shooting
Police said they received a call about the shooting at around 8:40 a.m. local time, as classes resumed after a long weekend for the May 1 holiday.
"I was able to hear the shooting. It was non-stop," said a student who was in a sports class downstairs when the gunfire erupted. "I didn't know what was happening. We were receiving some messages on the phone."
Milan Nedeljkovic, the mayor of the Belgrade area of Vracar where the shooting happened, said most of the students were removed from the school through a back door.
"We have video surveillance, but now this is a lesson, we need metal detectors too," he said. "It is a huge tragedy ... something like this (happening) in Belgrade."
While such attacks are rare, experts have repeatedly warned of the danger posed by the number of weapons in a highly divided country, where convicted war criminals are glorified and violence against minority groups often goes unpunished.
They also note that decades-long instability stemming from the conflicts, as well as ongoing economic hardship, could trigger such outbursts.
Luka Babic, a former student at Vladislav Ribnikar, bemoaned the culture of violence.
"We can't put the blame on this school or its teachers. ... It's a tragedy of a society that promotes violence," Babic said. "We live in the society of violence, and it has been promoted in media, in public spaces, on social media."