Serbia shocked by school massacre: Father often took 13-year-old attacker for shooting

Belgrade woke up this morning to horror and grief because of it massacre at the primary school, with the dead children. Three days of national mourning have been declared from tomorrow (5/4) and all schools will begin classes with a minute’s silence.

At night, a crowd of people gathered in front of the school to light candles and leave flowers, toys, pictures, treats in memory of the children killed by their 13-year-old classmate.

The boy’s parents have been arrested. Police revealed that his father often took him to a shooting range to practice shooting. The boy was armed with two guns, while inside his backpack he also had Molotov cocktails.

The student will be sent to a psychiatric facility, according to a statement by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who revealed among other things that the 13-year-old deliberately chose May 3 as the execution date, as well as his history class, because it is close to the school’s entrance.

“He was doing well in school and his parents were satisfied with his performance. There were no significant tensions and fights in the family environment. All the 13-year-old stated was that he was constantly being asked for better results and that his performance had dropped slightly since he was in love. He had found himself in a new department, away from his friends and his classmates didn’t like him. Because of this, according to his confession, he decided to commit this monstrous actVucic said.

“From the drawing made by the boy, it can be seen that he was playing some kind of electronic-online game from which he was affected. The 13-year-old has no remorse, does not understand what he did and thinks he has become a hero to some of them on social media. He feels genuinely satisfied because he thinks he has become a hero“, added the president of Serbia.

Officials uncovered sheets of paper on which the 13-year-old had recorded, down to the last detail, the attack.

As the country plunged into mourning, Vucic suggested at a press conference on Wednesday that the government should consider lowering the country’s age of criminal responsibility.

The current law on juvenile offenders states that they must be at least 14 years old to be charged criminally, with Serbia’s president proposing to lower the age limit to 12.

The timeline of the attack

A teenager opened fire at a Belgrade school shortly after the start of classes on Wednesday morning (April 3), killing eight children and a security guard and seriously injuring several others.

The boy – a 13-year-old student at the school – allegedly sketched out the attack in advance on 2 pages of paper, police officials said.

The first reports of the shooting emerged shortly after the students arrived at the Vladislav Ribnikar Primary School, a well-known institution in Vračar, an upscale area of ​​the Serbian capital.

Panicked parents rushed to the scene.

Seven girls and one boy were killed, along with the school’s security guard, according to police chief Veselin Milić. Another six children and a teacher were hospitalized, Serbia’s Interior Ministry said.

The suspect opened fire in a history classroom, “because it was near the entrance of the school.”

He first killed the security guard and then headed to another classroom where he shot some of his classmates.

The alleged attacker was later filmed being led away from the school in handcuffs, with a jacket over his head.

He was accompanied by police officers and was taken away in a security car.