(4 May 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Belgrade, Serbia - 04 May 2023
1. Exterior of the St. Sava's Cathedral in Belgrade
2. Various people praying inside the church, crossing themselves
3. Various of people with Patriarch Porfirije standing, woman crying
4. Various people lighting candles in front of the church
5. People hugging each other in front of the church
6. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Vidoje Durkovic, Belgrade resident:
”What can you say, this is a tragedy for the whole Serbian nation. This is society’s fault, the society failed. The education is destroyed. There is no authority any more from teachers, professors that it used to be. It is evident that something must be done otherwise we as a nation we disappear.”
7. People lighting candles
8. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Matija Rackov, Belgrade resident:
"Unfortunately, this is something that no one was expecting, but to say that it will never happen, unfortunately we don’t know what awaits us. But we need to try and influence people, and the entire community to have a more serious approach.”
9. Various flowers in front of he school, people lighting candles and laying flowers
10. Various of Dragan Popadic, a psychology professor at Belgrade University in his office
11. SOUNDBITE ( Serbian) Dragan Popadic, a psychology professor at Belgrade University:
”All of a sudden, we are living in a different world. We used to live in a world where it was impossible for a 13-year-old to be a mass killer and now, all of a sudden, it is possible and we have to accept that it happened.
Such a change is deeply disturbing.”
12. Popadic in his office
13. SOUNDBITE ( Serbian) Dragan Popadic, a psychology professor at Belgrade University:
“People suddenly have been shaken into reality and an ocean of violence that we live in, how it has grown over time and how much our society has been neglected for decades, that is very hard to correct.”
14. Pan shot of people in front of the school
STORYLINE:
People gathered in St. Sava Cathedral on Thursday to pray and pay respect to the victims after a 13-year-old boy used his father’s guns in a school shooting rampage on Wednesday that sent shockwaves through the nation and triggered moves to boost gun control.
The Balkan nation is struggling to come to terms with what has happened.
Though awash with weapons left over from the wars of the 1990s, mass shootings still have been extremely rare — and this is the first school shooting in Serbia’s modern history.
The tragedy also sparked a debate about the general state of the nation following decades of crises and conflicts whose aftermath have created a state of permanent insecurity and instability, along with deep political divisions.
Dragan Popadic, a psychology professor at Belgrade University, told The Associated Press that it's still unclear what caused the teenager to react in such a way, but that the tragedy has exposed the level of violence present in society and caused a deep shock.
“All of a sudden, we are living in a different world," he said. “We used to live in a world where it was impossible for a 13-year-old to be a mass killer and now, all of a sudden, it is possible and we have to accept that it happened.”
Such a change, Popadic added, is “deeply disturbing.”
Authorities on Thursday moved to boost gun control, as police urged citizens to lock up their guns and keep them safe, away from children.
Police have said that the teen used his father's guns to carry out the attack.
To help people deal with the tragedy, authorities announced they were setting up a help line.
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