(3 May 2023)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Belgrade, Serbia - 03 May 2023
1. Scene outside school
2. Police outside
3. Exterior of school
4. Mayor of Vracar municipality Milan Nedeljkovic
5.SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Milan Nedeljkovic, mayor of municipality of Vracar:
"There was a tragedy at Vladislav Ribnikar elementary school at 08:40am. a boy from 7th grade loaded his gun and our school guard could not stop him, he died protecting the children. Our history teacher was shot, she is in the hospital. According to my information, 4, 5 other children were shot too. All other children were evacuated through the back door of the school. We have video surveillance but now it's a lesson, we need metal detectors too. It's a huge tragedy. This here in Vracar, is unheard of something like this in Belgrade, I think also in Serbia. Such a tragedy at an elementary school."
6. Media gathered around mayor
STORYLINE:
A teenage boy opened fire at a school in Serbia's capital Wednesday, killing eight children and a school guard, police said. Six more children and a teacher were injured and hospitalized.
Police identified the shooter by his initials, K.K., and said he had opened fire with his father's gun.
He was arrested in the school yard, police said. A statement identified him as a student at the school in central Belgrade who was born in 2009.
Local municipality mayor Milan Nedeljkovic described the shooting as a "huge tragedy".
He said the school guard had died along with 4 or 5 other children. This figure was later updated to 8 children.
Police said they received a call about the shooting at the Vladislav Ribnikar primary school around 8:40 a.m. Primary schools in Serbia have eight grades, starting with first grade.
Unlike in the United States, mass shootings in Serbia and in the wider Balkan region are extremely rare; none were reported at schools in recent years.
In the last mass shooting, a Balkan war veteran in 2013 killed 13 people in a central Serbian village.
Experts, however, have repeatedly warned of the number of weapons left over in the country after the wars of the 1990s.
They also note that decades-long instability stemming from the conflicts as well as the ongoing economic hardship could trigger such outbursts.
Police sealed off the blocks around the school, in the center of Belgrade.
AP Video shot by Predrag Barbul
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