A 13-year-old went on a shooting rampage at a school in Serbia this morning, killing 8 children and one guard. This marked the country’s first mass shooting in ten years.
Police reported that they got a call regarding an incident at the Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School around 8:40 a.m. local time in Belgrade. Upon arrival, the seventh grader was arrested after he shot at students and staff at the school using his father’s gun.
The suspect planned on using bombs in the attack
The Guardian reports that Belgrade police chief Veselin Milić, said the suspect had two gas bombs and “made a list of kids he planned to kill and their classes”. Seven girls and a boy born between 2009 and 2011 were identified as victims. The number of injured has not been confirmed yet, but many more are in critical condition.
The suspect allegedly started firing into a history classroom as it was closest to the entrance. Multiple papers found indicated that the attack was premeditated.
“The sketch looks like something from a video game or a horror movie, which indicates that he planned in detail, by classes, whom to liquidate,” Milić said.
The motive is currently unknown and the shooter has been identified as Kosta Kecmanovic. He is also reported to have attended the shooting range with his father on multiple occasions. Both of his parents have also been arrested. His father claimed that the weapons were locked away.
“The father claimed the arms were locked in a safe with a code, but apparently the kid had the code,” Serbia’s interior minister, Bratislav Gašić, said. “He took the pistols and three magazines with 15 bullets each.”
Serbia has very strict gun laws and the father’s weapons were legally obtained and registered.
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Amidst the tragedy, a father Milan Milosevic, reveals his daughter narrowly escaped one of the rooms where the shooting occurred. The security guard who died saved many lives by putting himself in the line of fire.
“[The boy] first shot the teacher and then he started shooting randomly,” he said. “I saw the security guard lying under the table. I saw two girls with blood on their shirts. They say he [the shooter] was quiet and a good pupil. He recently joined their class.”
“I saw kids running out from the school, screaming. Parents came, they were in panic. Later I heard three shots,” one student revealed.
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The President is planning to step up gun laws in light of this recent tragedy. The last mass shooting in the country was in 2013 when Ljubisa Bogdanovic killed 14 people. Others occurred in 2007, 2015, and 2016. All the other suspects were adults.