A tragic school shooting occurred in Belgrade on Wednesday, resulting in the death of eight children and a school guard. Six more children and a teacher were injured and hospitalized. The shooter, identified by his initials K.K., opened fire at the Vladislav Ribnikar primary school with his father's gun. He was arrested in the school yard, and police identified him as a student at the school who was born in 2009.
The shooting took place around 8:40 a.m., and one student who heard the gunfire described it as non-stop. "I didn't know what was happening. We were receiving some messages on the phone," the student said. Unlike in the United States, mass shootings in Serbia and the wider Balkan region are rare, and there have not been any reported at schools in recent years. The last mass shooting occurred in 2013 when a Balkan war veteran killed 13 people in a central Serbian village.
Experts have warned about the number of weapons left over in the country after the wars of the 1990s and the ongoing economic hardship, which could trigger such outbursts. Local media footage from the scene showed commotion outside the school as police removed the suspect, whose head was covered as officers led him to a car parked in the street.
The student who heard the shooting described the suspect as a "quiet guy" who "looked nice" and had good grades, but wasn't very open with everyone. "Surely I wasn't expecting this to happen," the student added. Another parent, Milan Milosevic, said his daughter was in a history class when the shooting took place, and he rushed out when he heard what had happened. Milosevic's daughter said the shooter fired first at the teacher and then the children who ducked under the desks. She added that he was a quiet boy and a good student.
Police sealed off the blocks around the school in the center of Belgrade, and investigations are underway. This tragic incident has left the community in shock and mourning for the loss of innocent lives.