Sadness and commotion in Serbia after school massacre

“Yesterday I cried all day. My son went to that school,” Mileva Milosevic, an 85-year-old retired lawyer who lives near the center where the drama occurred on Wednesday, told AFP. “I’ll never forget it because I pass by there every day,” she added.

The Vladislav Ribnikar school, which serves students aged 7 to 15 in the center of Belgrade, remained closed on Thursday morning.

An AFP journalist found that several police officers were still present at the entrance to the establishment.

On Wednesday morning, a 13-year-old student, armed with a 9mm pistol, opened fire, first killing the guard and three classmates in the hallways, before heading to a classroom where he shot first a teacher and then the students. .

He killed a total of seven girls, one of them a French national, and a boy, all aged 12 or 13, as well as the guard. Six children and their history teacher were injured and hospitalized.

Remember the case ⤵️

Student opens fire and kills nine people at Belgrade school

Eight students and a security guard at a Belgrade school were shot dead this Wednesday (3), and another six students and a teacher were injured, by a student who was detained, the Serbian Ministry of the Interior said.

Three days of national mourning

Two students, a boy and a girl, who were seriously injured, remained in “critical condition”, declared this Thursday morning the heads of two Belgrade hospitals where they were admitted.

“Youth cut down in History class”, said the Vecernje Novosti newspaper this Thursday.

The Belgrade Institute of Mental Health has opened telephone lines to provide psychological support to students, families of victims and teachers.

After a gathering of thousands of people on Wednesday, the population continues to pay tribute to the victims in front of the school this Thursday, where they place flowers, toys, messages and light candles.

“Where are we as human beings? Where is our empathy? How come we can't see the problem, both with the boy who committed this act of violence, and with all the other people who led to what happened?”, asked Ana Djuric, a 37-year-old resident of Belgrade, in front of the school.

The government declared three days of national mourning from Friday.

Celebrations and events scheduled in this country of less than 7 million inhabitants will be canceled or reduced to a minimum.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, in an address to the nation on Wednesday night, deplored “one of the most difficult days in the contemporary history” of Serbia.

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