Drive-by shooting in Serbia kills 8 a day after Belgrade school massacre – National | 24CA News
At least eight folks had been killed and 10 wounded late Thursday in a drive-by capturing in a city near Belgrade, the second such mass killing in Serbia in two days, state tv reported.
The attacker used an computerized weapon to shoot randomly at folks close to the city of Mladenovac, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the capital, the RTS report stated early Friday. Police had been on the lookout for the 21-year-old suspect, who fled after the assault, the report stated.
No different particulars had been instantly obtainable, and police had not issued any statements.
On Wednesday in Belgrade, a 13-year-old boy used his father’s weapons in a faculty capturing rampage that killed eight of his schoolmates and a faculty guard. The bloodshed despatched shockwaves by means of the Balkan nation unused to such mass murders.
Dozens of Serbian college students, many sporting black and carrying flowers, paid silent homage Thursday to friends killed a day earlier.
School kids collect to gentle candles for the victims close to the Vladislav Ribnikar college in Belgrade, Serbia, Thursday, May 4, 2023. Many sporting black and carrying flowers, scores of Serbian college students on Thursday paid silent homage to their friends killed a day earlier when a 13-year-old boy used his father’s weapons in a faculty capturing rampage that despatched shock waves by means of the nation and triggered strikes to spice up gun management. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut).
The college students stuffed the streets across the college in central Belgrade as they streamed in from everywhere in the metropolis. Earlier, 1000’s had lined as much as lay flowers, gentle candles and go away toys to commemorate the eight kids and a faculty guard who had been killed on Wednesday morning.
People cried and hugged outdoors the college as they stood in entrance of heaps of flowers, small teddy bears, soccer balls. A grey and pink toy elephant was positioned by the college fence together with messages of grief, and a lady’s ballet footwear hung from the fence.
The Balkan nation is struggling to return to phrases with what has occurred. Though awash with weapons left over from the wars of the Nineteen Nineties, mass shootings nonetheless have been extraordinarily uncommon — and that is the primary college capturing in Serbia’s trendy historical past.
The tragedy additionally sparked a debate concerning the basic state of the nation following many years of crises and conflicts whose aftermath have created a state of everlasting insecurity and instability, together with deep political divisions.
Authorities on Thursday moved to spice up gun management, as police urged residents to lock up their weapons and hold them secure, away from kids.
Police have stated that the teenager used his father’s weapons to hold out the assault. He had deliberate it for a month, drew sketches of school rooms and made lists of the kids he deliberate to kill, police stated on Wednesday.
The boy, who had visited capturing ranges together with his father and apparently had the code to his father’s secure, took two weapons from the secure the place they had been saved along with the bullets, police stated on Wednesday.
“The Ministry of Interior is appealing to all gun owners to store their guns with care, locked up in safes or closets so they are out of reach of others, particularly children,” police stated in a press release that additionally introduced tightened controls on gun homeowners sooner or later.
The capturing on Wednesday morning in Vladislav Ribnikar major college additionally left seven folks hospitalized _ six kids and a trainer. One woman who was shot within the head stays in a life-threatening situation, and a boy is in critical situation with spinal accidents, medical doctors stated on Thursday morning.
To assist folks cope with the tragedy, authorities introduced they had been establishing a helpline. Hundreds answered a name to donate blood for the wounded victims. A 3-day mourning interval will start Friday morning.
Serbian lecturers’ unions introduced protests and strikes to demand adjustments and warn a few disaster within the college system. Authorities shrugged off accountability, with some officers blaming Western affect quite than a deep social disaster within the nation.
The shooter, whom the police recognized as Kosta Kecmanovic, has not given any motive for his actions.
Upon coming into his college, Kecmanovic first killed the guard and three college students within the hallway. He then went to the historical past classroom the place he shot the trainer earlier than turning his gun on the scholars.
Kecmanovic then unloaded the gun within the college yard and known as the police himself, though that they had already obtained an alert from a faculty official. When he known as, Kecmanovic advised obligation officers he was a “psychopath who needs to calm down,” police stated.
Those killed had been seven ladies, one boy and the college safety guard. One of the women was a French citizen, France’s overseas ministry stated.
A suspect is escorted by police outdoors the Vladislav Ribnikar college in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, May 3, 2023. Serbian police say a teenage boy opened hearth at a faculty in central Belgrade, killing a number of folks and injuring a number of extra. (AP Photo).
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Authorities have stated that Kecmanovic is just too younger to be charged and tried. He has been positioned in a psychological establishment whereas his father has been detained on suspicion of endangering public safety as a result of his son obtained maintain of the weapons.
“I think we are all guilty. I think each one of us has some responsibility, that we allowed some things we should not allow (to happen),” stated Zoran Sefik, a Belgrade resident, throughout Wednesday night’s vigil close to the college.
Jovan Lazovic, one other Belgrade resident, stated he was not stunned: “It was a matter of days when something like this could happen, having in mind what happening in the world and here,” he stated.
Gun tradition is widespread in Serbia and elsewhere within the Balkans: The area is among the many high in Europe within the variety of weapons per capita. Guns are sometimes fired into the air at celebrations and the cult of the warrior is a part of nationwide id. Still, the final mass capturing was in 2013 when a conflict veteran killed 13 folks in a central Serbian village.
Experts have repeatedly warned of the hazard posed by the variety of weapons in a extremely divided nation like Serbia, the place convicted conflict criminals are glorified and violence in opposition to minority teams usually goes unpunished. They additionally word that many years of instability stemming from the conflicts of the Nineteen Nineties in addition to ongoing financial hardship may set off such outbursts.
“We have had too much violence for too long,” psychologist Zarko Trebjesanin advised N1 tv. “Children copy models. We need to eliminate negative models … and create a different system of values.”
