Serbian police today arrested a suspect gunman who killed eight people and injured 13 others near the capital Belgrade – a day after a 13-year-old boy went on a killing spree at his school.
The suspect, identified only by his initials U.B. was arrested near the central town of Kragujevac, 60 miles south of Belgrade, following an all-night search by around 600 police officers.
The gunman allegedly opened fire in a school yard before continuing to shoot people at random across three villages while in a moving car, local media report.
An off-duty policeman and is sister were among those killed in the mass shooting near the town of Mladenovac, 26 miles south of Belgrade, late on Thursday, reports state broadcaster RTS.
The mass shooting comes on the heels of the worst school shooting in Serbia’s recent history, after Kosta Kecmanovic, 13, shot dead nine people, including eight fellow students, and injured seven at a school in Belgrade before turning himself in on Wednesday.
Forensic police operates in the location in the aftermath of a shooting in Malo Orasje
Forensic police operates in the location in the aftermath of a shooting in Malo Orasje, Serbia, on FridayÂ
An armed policeman is seen in the village of Dubona near the town of Mladenovac, about 60 kilometres (37 miles) south of Serbia’s capital Belgrade, on Friday following the mass shooting
In the latest shooting, the suspect was involved in an altercation in a school yard on Thursday and left but then returned with an assault rifle and a handgun, local media report.Â
The suspect opened fire and continued to shoot his victims at random one by one through three villages.
As the sun began to rise early Friday, there was a heavy police presence in the area of the latest shooting and a helicopter circling overhead with a spotlight appearing to search for the fugitive gunman, according to an AFP photographer on the scene.
Roughly 600 police personnel had been deployed to the area, according to RTS, with members of an elite anti-terrorist unit patrolling the highway.
The road leading to the villages of Malo Orasje and Dubona had also been sealed by authorities.
Worried relatives gathered outside the emergency medical centre in Belgrade, where at least eight injured people were hospitalised, N1 television reported.
Health Minister Danica Grujicic briefly visited the centre.
Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic called the shooting a ‘terrorist act’, RTS reported.
Serbia is set to begin a three-day mourning period on Friday, during what is normally a festive time in the country with people flocking outdoors and filling cafes to meet with friends and families.Â
Mass school shootings are extremely rare in Serbia and President Aleksandar Vucic called Wednesday’s tragedy ‘one of the most difficult days’ in recent history.
In a national address after the school shooting, Vucic proposed stricter gun control measures, including a two-year moratorium on issuing permits for firearms.
As the sun began to rise early Friday, there was a heavy police presence in the area of the latest shooting and a helicopter circling overhead with a spotlight appearing to search for the fugitive gunman
Police block a road in the village of Dubona near the town of Mladenovac, about 60 kilometres (37 miles) south of Serbia’s capital Belgrade, on Friday after at least eight people were killed and 13 injured in a drive-by shooting
A helicopter hovers as policemen block the road near the village of Malo Orasje, just outside the town of Mladenovac, about 60 kilometres (37 miles) south of Serbia’s capital Belgrade, in the early hours of Friday morning
Police operate in the location in the aftermath of a shooting in Malo Orasje
Forensic police operates in the location
The Interior Ministry has appealed to all firearm owners to keep their guns locked in safes – warning those who do not abide will have their weapons seized.
Gun ownership is relatively high in Serbia, where shooting ranges are popular but special permits are required to possess firearms. The wars in the Balkans during the 1990s amid the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia also saw a large number of weapons circulate in the region.
The Vladislav Ribnikar elementary school remained closed off on Thursday, with police guarding the entrance to the building.
Large crowds of mourners continued to flock to the school to pay their respects, placing flowers, toys and candles along the pavement.
People in the Croatian capital Zagreb and the Bosnian Serb administrative capital Banja Luka also lit candles and laid flowers for the victims.
Masses for the victims were held in Belgrade churches while the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Porfirije, called the shooting a ‘catastrophe, the likes of which has never happened in our nation and our homeland’.
In the last mass shooting in the Mladenovac area, a villager killed 13 relatives and neighbours in April 2013.
