Serbia school shooting: Belgrade teenager who allegedly killed nine had detailed plan of pupils to 'liquidate'

Serbian police say the suspect was a student at the school, and was born in 2009. The boy was arrested in the schoolyard, and allegedly used his father’s gun in the incident
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Police say a teenager who allegedly opened fire at his school in Serbia’s capital meticulously planned an attack that left eight fellow pupils and a security guard dead, and even a had list of students to target.

Officers were called to reports of a shooting at the Vladislav Ribnikar primary school in Belgrade, at around 8.40am local time (7.40am BST) on Wednesday (3 May). Six other children and a teacher were also injured in the attack, with the teacher and one young girl still fighting for their lives in hospital.

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Police identified the suspected shooter by his initials - KK. In a statement, they said the suspect was a student at the school, and was born in 2009. The boy was arrested in the schoolyard, police said, adding that he is believed to have used his father’s gun in the incident.

Senior police official Veselin Milic told the Associated Press KK allegedly drew sketches of classrooms, and wrote a list of children he planned to “liquidate”. Milic said the suspect called police himself when the attack was over.

Police officers escort a minor, a seventh grade student who is suspected of a shooting at a school in Belgrade on Wednesday   (Photo by OLIVER BUNIC/AFP via Getty Images)Police officers escort a minor, a seventh grade student who is suspected of a shooting at a school in Belgrade on Wednesday   (Photo by OLIVER BUNIC/AFP via Getty Images)
Police officers escort a minor, a seventh grade student who is suspected of a shooting at a school in Belgrade on Wednesday (Photo by OLIVER BUNIC/AFP via Getty Images)

The suspect's plans looked "like a video game or a horror movie" and were very detailed, Sky News reports. The teen allegedly first killed a guard at the school in central Belgrade and then three students in a hallway, Milic added, before entering a nearby classroom.

The suspect was reportedly also carrying four Molotov cocktails in his bag during the attack. Milic said police had been told by those that knew him that KK was a "model student, a model friend".

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Serbia's minister of interior Bratislav Gasic has said the boy's father is also being detained, and at age 13, the teenage suspect may be too young to face charges in Serbia. Sky reports the minister said the gun used in the attack was legal and the father claimed that it was locked in a safe, but the suspect apparently knew the code.

Photos from reporters at the scene show officers leading the suspect away in handcuffs, a black jacket over his head to protect his identity, while local media footage showed a commotion outside the school as police removed the suspect, with parents comforting sobbing children in the street.

Police sealed off the blocks around Vladislav Ribnikar, whose students typically range in age from six to 15. Authorities later carried body bags to a waiting van.

Milan Milosevic, who said his daughter was in a history class when the shooting took place, told N1 television that he rushed out when he heard what had happened. “I asked, ‘Where is my child?’ but no-one could tell me anything at first,” he said. “Then she called and we found out she was out.

Belgrade is the capital of Serbia, in Southeastern Europe (Picture: NationalWorld)Belgrade is the capital of Serbia, in Southeastern Europe (Picture: NationalWorld)
Belgrade is the capital of Serbia, in Southeastern Europe (Picture: NationalWorld)
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“He [the shooter] fired first at the teacher and then the children who ducked under the desks,” Mr Milosevic quoted his daughter as saying. “She said he was a quiet boy and a good student.”

Meanwhile a fellow student, who was in a sports class at the time, said: “I was able to hear the shooting. It was non-stop... I didn’t know what was happening. We were receiving some messages on the phone.”

The student described the suspect as a “quiet guy” who had good grades. “He was not so open with everybody. Surely I wasn’t expecting this to happen,” she said.

Mass shootings in Serbia and in the wider Balkan region are extremely rare and none have been reported in schools in recent years. In the last mass shooting in 2013, a Balkan war veteran killed 13 people in a central Serbian village. All mass shooters in recent decades have been adults.

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Reuters reports Serbia has an entrenched gun culture, especially in rural areas, but also strict gun control laws. The entire western Balkans are still awash with hundreds of thousands of illegal weapons following 1990s wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, where ethnic Serbs fought other ethnic groups which together made up former federal Yugoslavia.

Experts, however, have repeatedly warned about these weapons. They also noted that decades-long instability stemming from the conflicts, as well as the ongoing economic hardship could trigger such outbursts.

During the 1990s unrest, then-Serbian authorities promoted nationalist policies and used media outlets to present war criminals and underworld figures as heroes and defenders of Serb lands, Reuters said. Dozens of people were killed in gangland-style shootouts in the 1990s.

Tens of thousands of illegal firearms have since been handed over, but Serbia still ranks third behind the United States and Yemen with an estimated 39 firearms per 100 people, according to the 2018 Small Arms Survey.

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