After a manhunt lasting several hours, the man suspected of having caused 8 deaths and 14 injuries this Friday in Serbia has been arrested “near Kragujevac”, said the public television channel, referring to a city in central Serbia. The country is already in shock after the massacre in a school in Belgrade which killed 9 people on Wednesday.
“Following an extensive manhunt, members of the Interior Ministry arrested UB, born in 2002, in the Kragujevac region”, in Central Serbia, the ministry said in a statement. “He is suspected of having killed (…) with an automatic weapon eight people and of having injured fourteen others”according to the same source, which specifies that all the injured people are hospitalized.
The Serbian national television (RTS) had reported in the morning of thirteen wounded.
On Thursday evening in three different villages near Mladenovac, about 60 km south of Belgrade, a 21-year-old man opened fire with an automatic weapon from a moving vehicle before fleeing, according to public television RTS.
Serbian Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic described the incident as“terrorist act”. According to RTS, around 600 law enforcement officers were deployed, including members of a special anti-terrorist unit. The police blocked the access road to several villages.
“One of the most difficult days”
This new shooting occurred the day after the shooting, by a 13-year-old pupil, of 8 children and a guard in a school in Belgrade, a mass killing which deeply shocked the country. 7 people – 6 students and a teacher – were also injured in this attack, and 2 were still in critical condition on Thursday after undergoing a series of surgeries.
The young assailant was arrested shortly after the killing in the schoolyard, where he was awaiting the arrival of the police, and was placed in a psychiatric hospital. The father of the shooter, a reputable doctor, owner of the weapon used, was arrested and must be heard this Friday by a prosecutor. The mother was also arrested.
Three days of national mourning have been declared from this Friday. Planned celebrations and events will be largely cancelled. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic lamented “one of the most difficult days in contemporary history” from Serbia.
A large number of firearms have been circulating in the Balkans since the breakup of the former Yugoslavia and the bloody wars of the 1990s. Some 765,000 weapons, including more than 232,000 pistols, are legally registered in Serbia, country of 7 million people where shooting ranges are popular.
A license is required to own firearms in Serbia. The Interior Ministry announced on Thursday home checks to check whether weapons were kept in safes, in accordance with the rules in force. Violators will have their weapons confiscated.
Update at 8:24 a.m.: suspect arrested.
Update at 9:13 a.m.: more information about the suspect.
Source: Libération by www.liberation.fr.
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