May 3, 2023, 8:00 AM
May 3, 2023, 8:00 AM
Eight students and a guard from a Belgrade primary school They were shot dead on Wednesday, and six other students and their teacher were wounded by a student from the school who was detained, the Serbian Interior Ministry said.
The incident caused quite a stir in this Balkan country, where school shootings are extremely rare.
“In the shooting that took place this morning at the Vladislav Ribnikar primary school, in Vracar (in the center of Belgrade), eight children and a guard were killed, while six children and a teacher were injured and hospitalized,” the ministry said in a statement.
The suspect, a 14-year-old student, was found in the schoolyard and detained, according to the same source.
Late in the morning, the president of the municipality of Vracar, Milan Nedeljkovic, told the press that the school guard had died and that several students and a history teacher had been injured.
“He wanted to prevent this tragedy and died (…) The drama would probably have been worse if this man had not stood in front of the boy who was shooting,” Nedeljkovic added in front of the school, according to images broadcast on national television (RTS).
The shooting occurred around 8:40 am (6:40 am GMT), according to the Interior Ministry.
