Serbia School Shooting

[Lobo97]

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — A 13-year-old who opened fire Wednesday at his school in Serbia's capital drew sketches of classrooms and made a list of people he intended to target in a meticulously planned attack, police said. He killed eight fellow students and a guard before being arrested.

The shooter first killed a guard at the school in central Belgrade and then three students in a hallway, according to senior police official Veselin Milic. He then entered a history classroom — apparently choosing it simply because it was close to the entrance — and opened fire again, Milic said.

The assailant called police himself when the attack was over, though authorities received a call reporting the shooting two minutes earlier.

A father of a student said the shooter entered his daughter’s classroom, firing at her teacher and then her classmates as they ducked under their desks. Most students at the school were able to

flee through a back door, according to a local official.

While Milic said the shooter planned the attack for a month, sketching classrooms and writing out a list of children he planned to “liquidate,” authorities said they did not know the motive for shooting.

Although Serbia is awash in guns left over from the wars of the 1990s, mass shootings are extremely rare there and in the wider Balkan region. None were reported at schools in recent years.

In the last mass shooting, a Balkan war veteran in 2013 killed 13 people, including family members and neighbors, in a central Serbian village.

The rarity of such attacks added to the shock many felt. Commentators on television and officials repeatedly said it was the kind of thing they expected to read about elsewhere, particularly in the United States.

Authorities declared three days of nationwide mourning, starting Friday.

Police identified the shooter as Kosta Kecmanovic, who attended the Vladislav Ribnikar school, where students would typically range in age from 6 to 15.

Because he is under 14, Kecmanovic can’t face criminal charges, the Belgrade prosecutor’s office said. Social services will determine what happens to him.

He carried two guns belonging to his father — at least one a handgun —and four Molotov cocktails, officials said. Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic said the weapons were licensed and kept in a safe but the teen, who had been to shooting ranges, apparently knew the code. The father was also arrested.

It’s not clear how many rounds were fired, but police said the shooter reloaded the handgun.

In addition to the nine killed, six children and a teacher were also hospitalized.

Local media footage showed a commotion as police removed Kecmanovic, whose head was covered as officers led him to a car. Police sealed off the blocks around the school. Authorities later carried body bags to a waiting van.

Police said they received a call about the shooting at around 8:40 a.m. on the first day that classes resumed after a long weekend for the May 1 holiday.

“I was able to hear the shooting. It was nonstop,” said a student who was in a sports class when gunfire erupted elsewhere in the building. Her mother asked that her name be withheld because of her age. “I didn’t know what was happening. We were receiving some messages on the phone.”

The student described the shooter as a “quiet guy” who had good grades.

“He was not so open with everybody. Surely I wasn’t expecting this to happen,” she said.

Milan Milosevic, who said his daughter was in a history class when the shooting took place, told N1 television that he rushed to the school when he heard what had happened. He received a call from his daughter who had gotten out of the building and was unharmed.

“He (the shooter) fired first at the teacher and then the children who ducked under the desks,” Milosevic said his daughter told him.

Milan Nedeljkovic, the mayor of the Belgrade area of Vracar where the shooting happened, said that most of the students were taken out a back door of the school.

“We have video surveillance, but now this is a lesson, we need metal detectors too,” he said. "It is a huge tragedy ... something like this (happening) in Belgrade. Such a tragedy at an elementary school.”

Four students and a teacher were sent to University hospital, according to the hospital's director, who said one child and the teacher were in serious condition.

While such attacks are rare, experts have repeatedly warned of the danger posed by the number of weapons in a highly divided country, where convicted war criminals are glorified and violence against minority groups often goes unpunished.

They also note that decades of instability stemming from the conflicts of the 1990s as well as the ongoing economic hardship could trigger such outbursts.

Luka Babic, a former student at Vladislav Ribnikar, bemoaned a culture of violence.

“We can’t put the blame on this school, or its teachers. ... It's a tragedy of an society that promotes violence," Babic said. "We live in the society of violence, and its been promoted in media, in public space, on social media."

Education Minister Branko Ruzic, however, was quick to blame “the cancerous, pernicious influence of the internet, video games, so-called Western values." Such criticism is common among government officials in Serbia, where pro-Russian and anti-Western sentiment have increased in recent years.

[Lobo97]

A few things I'd like to point out here...

 

Serbia has very strict gun laws. There are only two types of guns you are allowed to own, a hand gun and a hunting rifle. Both are very hard to get permission to own. 

You need to fulfill the following conditions:

1. Over 18yrs.

2. Serbian or a permanent resident.

3. Health check.

4. No prior conviction of serious criminal acts like injuries, assaults, murder, robbery and similar.

5. No conviction for disturbance of peace that requires jail time in the last four years, (so fights, threats, fighting a cop and similar).

6. You need to pass a security check, cops talk to your neighbors, coworkers, boss, family to see if you are a stable member of society.

7. You have a training certificate.

8. Have a just cause for holding a weapon (three ways: personal safety - you need to have proof that your life may be in danger, hunting - you need to be a member of a hunting society, sports - you need to be an active member of a shooting club).

9. You have a way to safe keep the weapon at home, meaning a gun cabinet or safe box that only you and no one else from the household can open (and cops do come to your home to check this).

If you stop fulfilling any of these they can (and will) take away your weapon.

 

All of this sounds familiar, right? It's basically what every liberal thinks our gun laws should be in this country. None of this, however, stopped this tragedy. Why, because EVIL exists in the world. 

Notice in ALL the blame mentioned in the article above, NONE was given to the gun. Nor did the lack of an available assault rifle decrease the number of innocent lives taken. 

[HearEmaGrowlin]

[EnjoyLife]

3 hours ago, Lobo97 said:

A few things I'd like to point out here...

 

Serbia has very strict gun laws. There are only two types of guns you are allowed to own, a hand gun and a hunting rifle. Both are very hard to get permission to own. 

You need to fulfill the following conditions:

1. Over 18yrs.

2. Serbian or a permanent resident.

3. Health check.

4. No prior conviction of serious criminal acts like injuries, assaults, murder, robbery and similar.

5. No conviction for disturbance of peace that requires jail time in the last four years, (so fights, threats, fighting a cop and similar).

6. You need to pass a security check, cops talk to your neighbors, coworkers, boss, family to see if you are a stable member of society.

7. You have a training certificate.

8. Have a just cause for holding a weapon (three ways: personal safety - you need to have proof that your life may be in danger, hunting - you need to be a member of a hunting society, sports - you need to be an active member of a shooting club).

9. You have a way to safe keep the weapon at home, meaning a gun cabinet or safe box that only you and no one else from the household can open (and cops do come to your home to check this).

If you stop fulfilling any of these they can (and will) take away your weapon.

 

All of this sounds familiar, right? It's basically what every liberal thinks our gun laws should be in this country. None of this, however, stopped this tragedy. Why, because EVIL exists in the world. 

Notice in ALL the blame mentioned in the article above, NONE was given to the gun. Nor did the lack of an available assault rifle decrease the number of innocent lives taken. 

It is not that this kind of thing does not happen other places...it is how much more often it happens here. Not to mention the weekly carnage in Chicago and St Louis and New Orleans and Memphis and Oakland and Detroit etc.

[DannyZuco]

3 hours ago, EnjoyLife said:

It is not that this kind of thing does not happen other places...it is how much more often it happens here. Not to mention the weekly carnage in Chicago and St Louis and New Orleans and Memphis and Oakland and Detroit etc.

My question to you is....how many of the shootings in the major cities are done by "law abiding citizens"? And could this be a situation that has been caused by the "not tough on crime" crowd? If there are NO Consequences for your actions, why would you stop? 

[RETIREDFAN1]

None......

Yes.......

Exactly......

 

[EnjoyLife]

16 hours ago, DannyZuco said:

My question to you is....how many of the shootings in the major cities are done by "law abiding citizens"? And could this be a situation that has been caused by the "not tough on crime" crowd? If there are NO Consequences for your actions, why would you stop? 

How many? Very few. That is why I have never actually supported new gun control measures...despite thinking that this country would be better off with far fewer guns in circulation. As far as the "tough on crime" thing goes...that probably plays a part...but I read a few years ago that the US has 4% of the worlds population but has 25% of the worlds prison inmates...so I am not sure we can incarcerate ourselves out of this problem.

Edited May 4, 2023 by EnjoyLife

[Lobo97]

Just now, EnjoyLife said:

How many? Very few. That is why I have never actually supported new gun control measures...despite thinking that this country would be better off with far fewer guns in circulation.

One of the problems with this, as I've mentioned before, is we have open borders, and politicians that support them, where guns are smuggled in illegally every day. 

[EnjoyLife]

Just now, Lobo97 said:

One of the problems with this, as I've mentioned before, is we have open borders, and politicians that support them, where guns are smuggled in illegally every day. 

I do not disagree with that...but I would bet that overall only a small percentage of guns used in crimes entered the country in that manner.

[Lobo97]

1 minute ago, EnjoyLife said:

I do not disagree with that...but I would bet that overall only a small percentage of guns used in crimes entered the country in that manner.

My point being, is let's say hypothetically we stopped manufacturing guns in the US. Well, then you'd see a much larger percentage of these crimes being committed with the very guns I mentioned. 

 

Evil always has and always will find a way. There's only one way to stop it...Jesus' return. Until then, it will not matter what type of weapons are allowed, by which means you get them, or by how many you have, evil will always find a way; because it isn't the fault of the weapon, but the evil desire of the person possessing it.

[BlahBlah]

Serbia cracks down on gun ownership days after mass shooting.

Serbia shootings lead to wide-scale gun reform | Semafor

[Monte1076]

25 minutes ago, BlahBlah said:

Serbia cracks down on gun ownership days after mass shooting.

Serbia shootings lead to wide-scale gun reform | Semafor

AFAIK Serbia doesn't have an equivalent to the 2nd Amendment.

[JBizzle]

On 5/4/2023 at 10:45 AM, EnjoyLife said:

How many? Very few. That is why I have never actually supported new gun control measures...despite thinking that this country would be better off with far fewer guns in circulation. As far as the "tough on crime" thing goes...that probably plays a part...but I read a few years ago that the US has 4% of the worlds population but has 25% of the worlds prison inmates...so I am not sure we can incarcerate ourselves out of this problem.

Yes, but why are those people in jail?  How many are violent offenders?  How many are locked up for some other offense? 

We are also the most heavily medicated society in the world and we have a news media that is constantly pushing fear and division on the populace.