- By James Gregory in London & Slobodan Maricic in Belgrade
- BBC News
Watch: Belgrade shooting suspect jailed by cops
A teen who killed 8 fellow trainees and a guard in a school in Serbia prepared the attack for weeks and had a “kill list”, according to cops.
The 13-year-old was jailed following Wednesday’s attack at the Vladislav Ribnikar main school in Belgrade.
The boy’s dad and mom have actually likewise been jailed.
Of those killed, 7 of the victims were women at the school, however the intention for the attack is still uncertain.
Another 6 students and an instructor were hurt in the shooting, 4 more young boys and 2 women.
A boy who was shot in the neck and chest is said to have actually suffered the worst injuries, while a woman remains in important condition with a head injury.
Officers in helmets and bulletproof vests cordoned off the location around the school, situated in the main Vracar area, soon after 08:40 (06:40 GMT).
The suspect is declared to have actually utilized his dad’s weapons, both of which had legal licenses. He is likewise said to have actually gone to a shooting variety more than when with his dad prior to the killings.
In a telecasted address to the nation, President Aleksandar Vucic explained the attack as “the most challenging day in the modern-day history of our nation”.
He said the suspect would be sent to a psychiatric center. Under present Serbian law, he cannot be held criminally accountable as he is under 14.
Mr Vucic has actually recommended that the age of criminal liability might be reduced to 12 in the wake of the killings.
He has actually likewise proposed numerous other reforms, consisting of an audit on guns licences and a tightening up of the guidelines around who can gain access to shooting varieties.
Police state the suspect prepared the attack a month beforehand which he had actually brought a “concern list” of kids to target and which class he would enter into initially.
Four of those wounded, three boys and another girl, were stable and conscious on Wednesday.
A teacher injured in the attack was also reported to have undergone surgery and the health minister said on Tuesday her life was at risk.
Most of the victims were born in 2009 – meaning they were either 13 or 14 at the time of the incident.
A national three-day mourning period starting on Friday has been announced.
Tributes have been laid for the victims of Wednesday’s shooting outside the school in central Belgrade
The sounds of crying parents could be heard on the streets around the school hours after the shooting.
Milan Milosevic, the father of one of the pupils at the school, said his daughter was in the class where the gun was fired and managed to escape.
“[The boy] first shot the teacher and then he started shooting randomly,” Mr Milosevic told broadcaster N1.
“I saw the security guard lying under the table. I saw two girls with blood on their shirts. They state 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 told the Serbian state broadcaster RTS.
Mr Vucic said the suspect had actually become friendly with the guard, who was described by one parent as “a man who loved kids”.
Mass shootings are comparatively rare in Serbia, which has very strict gun laws, but gun ownership in the country is among the highest in Europe.
The western Balkans are awash with illegal weapons following wars and unrest in the 1990s. In 2019, it was estimated that there are 39.1 firearms per 100 people in Serbia – the third highest in the world, behind the US and Montenegro.
In the deadliest shooting since then, Ljubisa Bogdanovic killed 14 people in the central village of Velika Ivanca in 2013, and Nikola Radosavljevic killed nine and injured five in the eastern town of Jabukovac in July 2007.
