Eight children and a security guard have been confirmed dead after a 14-year-old boy opened fire in a school in Belgrade, Serbia’s capital.
Veselin Milić, Belgrade police spokesperson, said the suspect called authorities to turn himself in and waited in the schoolyard to be arrested.
Milić said the head teacher called the police on Wednesday morning to say a child had entered the school with a weapon and started to shoot and officers were immediately deployed.
Several children and staff including a 53-year-old teacher were wounded.
‘IT WAS A PLANNED ATTACK’
Milić said the attacker planned the shooting a month in advance.
The shooter, on his way into the school, left his bag where he prepared four Molotov cocktails, the spokesperson added.
The gun recovered from the scene was a 9mm taken from his father’s flat.
He said the 14-year-old drew up a plan of the school entrance and exit – found on his desk – and designated priority targets.
The shooter, according to police, also strategised on how to get into particular classrooms and how to kill each child by classroom number.
Milić said the attacker may have chosen the history classroom, where the shooting happened because it was near the entrance.
“The sketch looks like something out of a video game or horror film,” the spokesperson said.
Branko Ružić, Serbia’s education minister, expressed shock over the incident which occurred in a country where mass shootings are extremely rare.
He said Serbia is “sadly in this part of the world where things like these are happening more often”.
“There is evidently a cancer – the influence of the internet, video games, western values,” the minister said.
“It’s obvious to all of us that we need short-term solutions and systemic change.”
Three days of mourning have been declared across Serbia.
