At least eight children and a security guard were killed while six others were injured when a teenage boy opened fire in a school in central Belgrade Wednesday.
Police identified the shooter by his initials, K.K., and said he had opened fire with his father's gun. The statement said he was a student at the school and was born in 2009. He was arrested in the schoolyard, police said.
Police said they received a call about the shooting in the Vladislav Ribnikar primary school around 8:40 a.m.
Local media footage from the scene showed commotion outside the school as police removed the suspect, whose head was covered as officers led him to a car parked in the street.
Mass shootings in Serbia and in the wider Balkan region are extremely rare and none has been reported in schools in recent years. In the last mass shooting, a Balkan war veteran killed 13 people in a central Serbian village in 2013.
Experts, however, have repeatedly warned of the number of weapons left over in the country after the wars of the 1990s. They also note that decadeslong instability stemming from the conflicts as well as the ongoing economic hardship could trigger such outbursts.
Milan Milosevic, who said his daughter was in a history class when the shooting took place, told N1 television that he rushed out when he heard what had happened.
"I asked where is my child but no one could tell me anything at first," he said. "Then she called and we found out she was out."
"He (the shooter) fired first at the teacher and then the children who ducked under the desks," Milosevic quoted his daughter as saying. "She said he was a quiet boy and a good student."
Police sealed off the blocks around the school, in the center of Belgrade. Primary schools in Serbia have eight grades.
Türkiye on Wednesday afternoon sent a message of condolence to Serbia and the family of the nine school shooting victims.
"We are deeply saddened to learn that eight pupils and a security officer lost their lives and six children and a teacher were injured after a gun attack targeting an elementary school in Belgrade, Republic of Serbia, on 3 May," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"We convey our condolences to their families as well as to the Serbian people and the government, and wish a speedy recovery to the injured," the statement added.
