7th-Grader Opens Fire at School in Serbia, Killing 8 Students

A seventh-grade student went on a shooting rampage at a school in Belgrade, Serbia, early Wednesday, killing eight children and a security guard, the Serbian police said.

The police said in a statement that the shooting took place around 8:40 a.m. at Vladislav Ribnikar primary school in the capital. The boy, who was not identified and whose age was not given, used his father’s handgun to fire multiple shots into a crowd at the school, the police said.

The suspect was apprehended in the schoolyard, the statement said. Six children and a teacher were injured in the attack and taken to the hospital.

Video taken from the scene of the shooting broadcast on local TV showed dozens of vehicles, including ambulances and police cars, stationed outside the school, watched by local residents.

Photographs released by news agencies showed the police detaining the student, whose head was covered with a dark piece of clothing. The authorities did not offer any motive for the shooting.

“All police forces are still on the ground working intensively to shed light on all the facts and circumstances that led to this tragedy,” said the statement, which was posted by Serbia’s ministry of public affairs on Facebook.

Gun violence is rare in Serbia, although stockpiles of weapons from the Balkan wars in the 1990s remain and many Serbs keep weapons at home for protection.

A mass shooting in 2013 left 13 people dead after a 60-year-old man opened fire in a village near Belgrade.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.