In the Serbian capital of Belgrade, a 13-year-old student broke into a school and killed nine people.
The investigation is ongoing.
New details
about the
perpetrator
: police find sketches of the planned killing spree.
Deadly
shots in
Belgrade elementary school
: Parents are desperate and are looking for children.
This news ticker about the shooting at a primary school in Belgrade, Serbia, is updated regularly.
Update from May 4th, 5.40 a.m .:
After the deadly shots at the Belgrade primary and secondary school, the police published new findings.
Accordingly, the alleged perpetrator is said to have been a very good student and even the best of his year.
A bad grade, which he is said to have been angry about, could be the reason for the shooting.
He shot nine people with a gun.
According to media reports, several bottles with a flammable liquid that were supposed to serve as Molotov cocktails were also found in his bag.
However, the 13-year-old attacker was overpowered by police officers in the schoolyard.
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A 13-year-old shot dead nine people at a school in Belgrade.
© Darko Vojinovic/dpa
Update from May 3, 4:35 p.m .:
According to the AFP news agency, the alleged perpetrator is said to be a 13-year-old teenager and not a 14-year-old, as was initially reported.
The boy had killed eight children and a security guard.
The children killed are seven girls and one boy who were born in 2009, 2010 and 2011, according to Belgrade's police chief Veselin Milic.
The boy is said to have carried a second weapon in his backpack, the authorities said.
Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic announced that the suspect's father, who owned the murder weapon, was also arrested.
"The father claims the guns were locked in a safe, but apparently the boy knew the code because he was able to take the pistols and three magazines of 15 rounds each," Gasic said.
As a mother of one child reported, the teachers reacted quickly to bring the school children to safety.
Her daughter saw the deadly shot at the security guard and then immediately ran to her class.
"She was afraid.
She told her teacher there was a shooting upstairs," the woman said.
The teacher brought the children to safety "immediately" and locked them in the classroom.
The police had been alerted by the deputy headmistress of the school, police chief Milic reported.
Two minutes later, the attacker himself called the police.
"He said he shot several people in the elementary school," Milic said.
Dead after school shooting in Belgrade: new details about the perpetrator – police find sketches “like from a horror film”
Update from May 3, 3:15 p.m .:
After the rampage of a 14-year-old teenager who shot nine people at his own school, the boy’s motive is still unclear.
However, the youth went according to plan and even had a list of potential victims, as the Belgrade police director Veselin Milic said at a press conference in the Serbian capital in the afternoon.
The boy had been planning his crime for months, police chief Milic said.
Sketches and plans were found on his desk that "looked like something out of a horror film or video game".
He went to his school with his father's gun and four incendiary devices in his pocket, where he first killed a security guard and two students.
Then he went to his school class, which was just having history lessons.
He changed the magazine on his gun and opened fire from the doorframe, at the teacher and several students.
He then ran into the schoolyard and called the police.
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A crying man walks alongside police officers blocking the entrance to the school.
© Oliver Bunic/AFP
Deadly shots in school in Belgrade: Parents desperate - "Please tell us something"
Update from May 3, 2:38 p.m .:
The Serbian government ordered a three-day state mourning after the fatal shots in the Vladislav Ribnikar elementary school in Belgrade.
This was announced by Education Minister Branko Ruzic on Wednesday at a press conference in the Serbian capital.
The alleged perpetrator is said to have called the police himself after the bloodbath, as the director of the Belgrade police, Veselin Milic, said at the press conference.
The act should have been prepared for a long time.
The killing spree at a primary school shook the whole of Serbia.
Some parents still don't know if something happened to their children.
Parents told the
BBC
that the police would not give them any more info matinees.
"Please tell us something," they are said to have begged the officers.
Concerned relatives would call hospitals to see if their children were admitted.
The police had asked the concerned parents, who have not heard from their children, to report to a police station.
The injured, who were taken to the hospital, suffered gunshot wounds.
A 13-year-old student suffered "life-threatening injuries," the
New York Times
quoted Serbian Health Minister Danica Grujicic as saying.
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A woman takes her child away from the elementary school where a gunman killed several people.
© Oliver Bunic/AFP
Shots in Belgrade: Security guard stands in the way of the shooters - "and was the first victim"
Update from May 3, 2:04 p.m
.: The first shots were fired on Wednesday morning around 08:40 a.m. in the Vracar district in central Belgrade.
The police immediately sent all available police patrols to the school, the Interior Ministry said.
The suspect, a 14-year-old seventh grader, was arrested.
The boy's motive remains unclear.
The police are working flat out to "clarify all the facts and circumstances that led to this tragedy," the Serbian Interior Ministry said.
The security guard who died in the killing spree probably prevented further victims.
He is said to have stood in the way of the shooter, as Milan Nedeljkovic from the district administration in Vracar said.
The security guard "wanted to prevent the tragedy and he was the first victim," Nedeljkovic told journalists in front of the school building.
The police cordoned off the school extensively.
Concerned parents were waiting for their children in front of the school.
Astrid Merlini, whose daughter was at school when the shooting happened, said teachers reacted quickly to keep the school children safe.
Her daughter saw the deadly shot at the security guard and then immediately ran to her class.
"She was afraid.
She told her teacher there was a shooting upstairs," Merlini reported.
The teacher brought the children to safety "immediately" and locked them in the classroom.
In Serbia, primary school lasts eight years.
Gun violence is extremely rare in Serbian schools.
In the Balkan country, the purchase and possession of a firearm is legal with a permit.
Shooting spree in Belgrade: Police arrest suspects in the schoolyard
Update from May 3, 1:33 p.m .:
After the killing spree at a primary school in Belgrade, a student is in mortal danger, as the Serbian Ministry of the Interior announced on its website.
A student at the school, born in 2009, was arrested as a suspect in the schoolyard, the ministry said.
The government plans to comment further on the case in the early afternoon.
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A suspect is escorted by police at an elementary school.
© Uncredited/AP/dpa
Shots in Belgrade: student opens fire - nine people dead
First report from May 3:
Belgrade – A student shot at classmates and staff in a Belgrade school on Wednesday, killing several people.
According to information from the
AFP
news agency , nine people were killed, including eight children and the school security guard.
Six school children and a teacher were injured by the shooter, who is said to be a student at the school.
Shots in Belgrade: student enters school with gun - nine people dead
Earlier, the Serbian Interior Ministry announced that the police had arrested a suspected gunman.
The news portal "nova.rs" reported, citing unspecified sources, that the alleged perpetrator was a 14-year-old seventh grader.
He is said to have entered the school and shot at the students.
Three school children are said to have been taken to the hospital, state television RTS reported.
This information was not officially confirmed at first.
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Police block the streets around a primary school in Belgrade where shots have been fired.
© Darko Vojinovic/dpa
The police and rescue workers went to the school in the center of Belgrade in large numbers.
The police cordoned off the surrounding area over a large area, as reported by the media.
Education Minister Branko Ruzic and Health Minister Danica Grujicic also went to the scene of the tragedy.
List of rubrics: © Darko Vojinovic/dpa
