Serbia: eight killed in second mass shooting in days, with attacker on the run

At least eight people have been killed and 13 injured in a shooting near a Serbian town about 60km (37 miles) south of Belgrade, state-run media has reported, just one day after a school shooting also saw nine killed in the capital.

The shooting occurred late on Thursday near Mladenovac when the attacker opened fire with an automatic weapon from a moving vehicle and then fled, state broadcaster RTS television reported. Seven of the injured are in a critical condition.

Police searching for the suspect, believed to be a 21-year-old man, have surrounded an area where he is believed to be hiding, RTS reported. A heavy police presence in the area saw helicopters and drones flying overhead as officers searched amid difficult terrain.

Bratislav Gašić, the minister of internal affairs, called the attack “an act of terrorism”.

Local reports suggested a police officer and his sister were among the dead, shot after an argument broke out in the village of Malo Orasje, near Mladenovac. It is believed shootings occurred at multiple locations.

On Wednesday, a 13-year-old student shot dead eight fellow pupils and a security guard in a Belgrade primary school, an attack that shocked the Balkan country.

Police named Wednesday’s shooter as Kosta Kecmanović and said he had been a pupil at the school since 2019. They said he had used two of his father’s guns for the shooting and may have been plotting the attack for a month.

The head of Belgrade police, Veselin Milić, said the teenager also had two petrol bombs and “made a list of kids he planned to kill and their classes”. Milić identified the dead pupils as seven girls and a boy born between 2009 and 2011.

Kecmanović is too young to face criminal charges and will be placed in a psychiatric institution. His parents have also been arrested.

The second shooting happened while Serbia is preparing for three days of mourning, beginning on Friday morning. On Thursday, thousands lined up to lay flowers, light candles and leave toys outside the school to commemorate the victims of Wednesday’s attack.

Tributes included heaps of flowers, small teddy bears, soccer balls. A grey and pink toy elephant was placed by the school fence along with messages of grief, and a girl’s ballet shoes hung from the fence.

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 are still extremely rare – it is the first school shooting in Serbia’s modern history. The previous mass shooting was in 2013 when a war veteran killed 13 people in the central Serbian village of Velika Ivanca.

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.

Authorities on Thursday moved to boost gun control, as police urged citizens to lock up their guns and keep them safe, and away from children. “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 said in a statement.

The shooting on Wednesday in Vladislav Ribnikar primary school also left seven people hospitalised – six children and a teacher. One girl who was shot in the head remains in a life-threatening condition, and a boy is in serious condition with spinal injuries, doctors said on Thursday morning.

To help people deal with the tragedy, authorities announced they were setting up a helpline. Hundreds answered a call to donate blood for the wounded victims.

With Agence France-Presse and Associated Press