Serbia: Boy shoots dead nine people in Belgrade classroom

Milan Milosevic, the father of one of the pupils at Vladislav Ribnicar Primary School, said his daughter was in the class where the gun was fired. I managed to escape. (The boy)… first shot the teacher and then started shooting randomly,” Milosevic told N1 station.

Police officers block off the street around the Vladislav Ribnekar School in central Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, May 3, 2023. A teenage boy opened fire early Wednesday at a school in central Belgrade, causing injuries, Serbian police said. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Milan Nedeljkovic, the mayor of the Frakar Central District where the school is located, said that doctors are fighting to save the teacher’s life.

The Interior Ministry statement said eight children and a security guard were killed, and six children were taken to hospital with the teacher.

Police said a seventh-grade student was arrested.

I saw the security guard lying under the table. I saw two girls with blood on their shirts. They say he (the shooter) was quiet and a good student. Milosevic, who rushed to the school after the shooting, added, “He recently joined their class.

Officers wearing helmets and flak jackets cordoned off the area around the school.

I saw children running outside the school screaming. Parents came, and they were in a panic. Later I heard three shots,” a girl studying at a secondary school next to Vladislav Ribnicar told state television RTS.

The police said in a statement that the victims are being treated and the motives behind the shooting are being investigated.

Mass shootings are relatively rare in Serbia, which has very strict gun laws. But the Western Balkans is awash with hundreds of thousands of illegal weapons in the aftermath of the wars and turmoil of the 1990s.
Serbian authorities have issued several amnesties to their owners for surrendering or registering illegal weapons.