A teenage boy opened fire in a school in central Belgrade Wednesday, killing eight children and a school guard, police said. Six more children and a teacher were injured.
Police identified the shooter by his initials, K.K. The statement said he was a seventh-grade student at the school, born in 2009. He was arrested in the schoolyard, police said.
Police received a call about the shooting in the Vladislav Ribnikar primary school around 8:40 a.m., they said in a statement.
The suspect, a seventh-grade student, was arrested, police said. The statement added that the boy apparently fired several shots from his father's gun at other students and the school guard.
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Serbian media have reported that the guard was killed in the shooting. Police gave no other details. Reports said terrified parents have arrived at the school trying to find their children.
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 are extremely rare. Experts, however, have repeatedly warned of the number of weapons left over in the country after the wars of the 1990s.
Police sealed off the blocks around the Vladislav Ribnikar school, in the centre of Belgrade. Primary schools in Serbia have eight grades.
