Student shoots 9 dead at Turkey school before killing self; 2nd incident in 2 days

A day after 16 people were injured in a mass shooting at a Turkey school, a student opened fire at another high school in the country, killing nine people and injuring 13 others. The attacker later killed himself.

In Short

• Attacker targeted two fifth-grade classrooms with multiple firearms
• He used retired police officer father's weapons, later killed himself
• Incident came a day after 16 hurt in another Turkey school shooting

A 14-year-old student opened fire at a high school, killing nine people, including eight fellow students, and injuring 13 others in southeastern Turkey’s Kahramanmaras province on Wednesday. The shooter, who was yet to be identified, later killed himself. This is the second school shooting which has rattled Turkey in two days.

Authorities said the shooter, an eighth-grade student, used weapons belonging to his retired police officer father, which were concealed in a backpack during the attack. Broadcaster NTV reported that the shooter’s father had been detained.

Kahramanmaras Governor Mukerrem Unluer said the attacker died by suicide during the commotion. He added that the shooter had entered the school with five weapons and seven magazines, believed to belong to his former police officer father, and opened fire in two classrooms of fifth-grade students.

Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci said eight students and one teacher were killed in the attack, adding that six of the injured were in critical condition. “This was solely a personal attack carried out by one of our students, it is not a terror incident,” he said.

The motive behind the shooting remains unclear.

While gun laws in Turkey are relatively strict, requiring individuals to be over 21 and licenced to own firearms, weapons remain widely accessible, particularly among security personnel.

In recent days, Turkey has seen a spate of shootings, with three such incidents occurring this month.

On Tuesday, 16 people, mostly students, were injured in a shooting at a high school in Sanliurfa province, when a former student opened fire, before turning the gun on himself.

On April 7, a shooting outside a building housing the Israeli consulate in Istanbul left one attacker dead and four others injured, including the shooter's two accomplices and two police officers. No Israeli diplomats were present at that time.

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(with inputs from Reuters)