School shooting in Serbia leaves 8 children dead

Serbia, a southern European country of nearly 7 million people, has more than 2,700,000 guns in private ownership — only 44% of which are officially registered, according to a 2018 analysis by the Small Arms Survey.

This means there are 39 guns for every 100 Serbians, the data project at the Geneva Graduate Institute found. It is the highest level of civilian gun ownership in Europe, and the fifth-highest in the world. More than 1.5 million guns that people in Serbia own are unregistered, data shows.

Other countries in Europe that also have a high per capita firearm ownership are Montenegro, Finland, Iceland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Austria. Meanwhile, Europe’s gun ownership is still incomparable to the United States, which has the highest gun ownership rate in the world, with more guns than people (120 guns per 100 people). 

The teenage suspect in a deadly shooting at a prestigious school in the Serbian capital Belgrade had two guns in his possession, the Serbian interior minister said at a news conference.

Bratislav Gasic said, "The parent had several pieces of weapon and kept them locked up. The safe had a code. Obviously, the kid had the code as soon as he managed to get hold of those two guns. And three frames full of 15 bullets each.”

Separately, Belgrade's Police Chief Veselin Milić detailed the boy had a 9mm pistol as well as a small caliber pistol in a bag, as well as four Molotov cocktails.

Earlier, Gasic said the boy's father was also arrested.

This post has been updated with more details about the shooting.

The teenage suspect who opened fire at a school in Belgrade killed a security guard first, then went to a classroom where he shot some of his schoolmates, Belgrade's Police Chief Veselin Milić said at a news conference Wednesday.

The chief added, "Then he went out into the corridor to the history classroom, put another clip in on the way. He went into the classroom and immediately shot the teacher and the students there from the door. Then he left the classroom, went out into the schoolyard, releasing the magazine from the weapon, throwing it down the steps, called the police, and after that we took him into custody."

This post has been updated with more details about the shooting.

The father of the teenage suspect in the Belgrade school shooting has been arrested, Serbian Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic said.

Gasic also said the father had previously gone to a shooting range with his son. 

What we know about the shooting: The shooting left at least eight children dead, along with a security guard. A further six children and one teacher have been hospitalized, according to Serbia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.

This post has been updated with more details about the shooting.

The Serbian Government has declared a three-day mourning period, starting Friday.

Serbia — a country with rare mass shooting incidents — is mourning the loss of nine lives in a school shooting in the Serbian capital Belgrade. Eight girls, one boy and a security guard were killed. Another six children and a teacher were injured in the attack.

European officials are offering their condolences to the victims of a mass shooting at Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School in Belgrade, Serbia on Wednesday. At least nine people have been confirmed dead in the aftermath of the attack.

Hadja Lahbib, Belgium’s Minister of Foreign Affairs

Jan Lipavský, Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Czech Republic

Edgars Rinkēvičs, Latvia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs

Edi Rama, Albania’s Prime Minister

Borjana Krišto, chairperson of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Council of Ministers, tweeted that she was "deeply shocked" to hear about the shooting, wished a speedy recovery to the injured and sent condolences to "all those mourning the loss of their loved ones."

Serbia — a country with rare mass shooting incidents — is mourning the loss of nine lives in a school shooting in the Serbian capital Belgrade.

Seven girls and one boy were killed, alongside the security guard, Belgrade’s Police Chief Veselin Milić said at a news conference.

Here are some photos from the site of the deadly incident.

Nine people died and several more were injured after a student allegedly opened fire at a school in Belgrade, a rare mass shooting that took place in an upmarket part of the Serbian capital.

Here are the latest developments:

This post has been updated with more details about the shooting.

A teenage suspect who opened fire at a school in Belgrade killing eight schoolchildren and one security guard called police himself, Belgrade's Police Chief Veselin Milić said at a news conference Wednesday. 

When he called police, the suspect told them what he did and waited in the schoolyard to be arrested, Milić said.