Very young school shooter (13) Belgrade wanted to stop police with Molotov cocktails

2023-05-04 10:13:58

With the four Molotov cocktails he had with him, the Serbian gunman wanted to prevent the police from entering yesterday. This is what the 13-year-old boy stated at the police station after he killed nine people in the corridors and classroom of a school in Belgrade.

The police chief of the Serbian capital says on state channel RTS that the perpetrator described himself as “a psychopath who needs to calm down.” He did so by telephone after he had caused a massacre at his own primary school.

Three days of national mourning have been declared in the country. © REUTERS

In previous messages yesterday afternoon, a 14-year-old boy was still mentioned. It is now clear that the school shooter, who took two pistols from his father, is a year younger. He called the police himself after fatally hitting eight students and a security guard.

Molotovcocktails

It now appears that he had four Molotov cocktails with him. “He did not intend to set fire to his victims with that,” says police officer Veselin Milic. “His statement was that he wanted to block the entrance to the school for the police.” There is no motive for the shooting. Milic points to the victim’s age. “This is not a young person, but a child. Who could have imagined that he would be capable of such a gruesome thing?”

The deed has probably been prepared for weeks. A list of intended victims was therefore found with the boy.

Two children are still in critical condition in the hospital on Thursday. Serbia, which has announced three days of national mourning, has been reminded to keep weapons empty and under lock and key. The police will check gun owners’ homes and confiscate them if this is not the case. The boy’s parents have been arrested for ‘seriously endangering public safety’.

Never before has the country had to deal with one school shooting. Because a 13-year-old in Serbia is too young for criminal prosecution, he has been transferred to a psychiatric institution.