Eight students and a security guard were killed in a shooting at the "Vladislav Ribnikar" Elementary School in Belgrade, the Serbian Ministry of the Interior announced.
A student of that school, KK (14), who is suspected of the attack, was arrested, as was his father.
Six students and one teacher were seriously injured. The injured were treated at the Emergency Center and Clinic in Tiršova.
"The student of this school KK (2009) who is suspected of having committed this crime was found and arrested in the school yard. All police forces are still on the ground and are working intensively to shed light on all the facts and circumstances that led to this tragedy", stated is in the press release of the Serbian MUP.
Serbian Police Minister Bratilav Gašić said that the father of the suspected attacker was arrested. He claimed that he kept the weapon locked and that he had the appropriate legal permits for it, Gašić said.
Part of the media previously announced that the wounded teacher also succumbed to her injuries, but other media did not confirm this information.
It is said that the boy barged into the history class and started shooting at the students with his father's gun.
The suspected student fled the scene after the shooting, but was soon arrested by the police.
The director of the Clinic in Tiršova, Siniša Dučić, told RTS that three children from the school were transferred to that institution.
"Two thirteen-year-old boys and one girl were shot. Both boys are neuro-vascularly stable. They are gunshot wounds to the lower extremities. They are being monitored and receiving therapy," says Dučić.
He points out that the girl has a head injury and is in the operating room.
An extraordinary press conference will be held in the Government of Serbia at 13.15:XNUMX p.m. The conference will be addressed by Minister of Education Branko Ružić, Minister of Health Danica Grujičić and a representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia.
"He first shot the teacher, then continued"
The wounded guard died shortly after the shooting.
One of the parents told N1 that his daughter ran out of the classroom during the shooting and that the attacker was her schoolmate.
"My daughter was in that very class, she was in the classroom where that boy fired the first shots at the teacher, and then he started shooting at the kids who were under the desks, and my kid ran out."
"He started shooting randomly, he had two cartridges in his hand, first he shot the history teacher, and then he continued. He killed two of our friends, I lay down on top of them so he would think I was dead. He left the classroom, shots were still heard...", the media reports the statement of one of the girls who survived the shooting.
MUP: Shot from his father's gun
Earlier this morning, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia announced that they were informed that the shooting took place this morning at 8.40:XNUMX am.
"The police dispatched all available patrols, immediately went to the field and arrested the suspected juvenile, a seventh-grade student, who, as is suspected, fired several shots from his father's gun in the direction of the students and security of this school," said the police.
Trade union: Suspension of work in schools in Serbia starting tomorrow
The main board of the Independent Union of Educational Workers of Serbia (NSPRS) has decided to suspend work in all schools in Serbia starting tomorrow.
The decision was made on the basis of the Law on Safety and Health at Work, because employees in education are threatened with immediate danger to their lives and health, the announcement reads, as reported by the Beta agency.
NSPRS expresses its condolences to the families of the victims, and wishes the injured a speedy and successful recovery.
NSPRS demands the immediate dismissal of the Minister of Education, Branko Ružić, "due to his responsibility for today's tragedy at the Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School in Belgrade, in which several people were killed."
The NSPRS indicates that they have repeatedly demanded from the Ministry of Education that "instead of making up the existing regulations, take extensive measures to increase safety in schools, which the Minister and the Ministry ignored".
Just ten days ago, concrete proposals and a clear position on the problem of safety in schools were repeated to Minister Ružić by the president of the trade union Dušan Kokot, at a public debate on amendments to the Law on the Basics of Education in the Palace of Serbia, the announcement reads.
NSPRS states that in education in Serbia, "quality has been skimped on for years: many schools work without psychologists, pedagogues and other professional staff, principals are appointed for political expediency and not for quality, teaching staff's hands are tied by regulations, and motivation is suppressed by low salaries for pedagogical work with children. The consequences are catastrophic, and today they have become obvious to the widest public".
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