A tragic incident unfolded in southeastern Turkey’s Kahramanmaras province as a 14-year-old student carried out a deadly school shooting, claiming the lives of nine individuals, including eight students, and injuring 13 others. The shooter, whose identity remains undisclosed, ultimately took his own life. This marks the second school shooting to shock Turkey within a span of two days.
Reports indicate that the assailant, an eighth-grade student, utilized firearms belonging to his father, a retired police officer, which were concealed in a backpack during the attack. The shooter’s father has been reported as being taken into custody.
Governor Mukerrem Unluer of Kahramanmaras confirmed that the attacker committed suicide amidst the chaos. It was revealed that the shooter entered the school armed with five weapons and seven magazines, believed to be from his father’s police officer days, and initiated the attack in two classrooms occupied by fifth-grade students.
Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci disclosed that the attack resulted in the deaths of eight students and one teacher, with six of the wounded individuals in critical condition. Ciftci emphasized that the incident was a personal assault carried out by a student and not an act of terrorism.
The motive behind the shooting remains unclear. Despite Turkey’s stringent gun regulations, mandating individuals to be at least 21 years old and licensed to possess firearms, weapons remain readily available, especially among security personnel.
Recent days have seen a rise in shootings across Turkey, with three such incidents occurring this month. In a separate incident on Tuesday, a former student opened fire at a high school in Sanliurfa province, injuring 16 individuals. Additionally, on April 7, a shooting outside a building housing the Israeli consulate in Istanbul resulted in one attacker’s death and injuries to four others, including two police officers and the shooter’s accomplices. Notably, there were no Israeli diplomats present during the incident.