School massacre trial

Boy (13): “Would never have happened without father’s gun”

Arrest after the massacre in a Belgrade school

(Bild: AP)

In May 2023, a boy aged 13 at the time of the crime shot dead eight pupils and the school caretaker in a rampage at a school in Belgrade. At the start of the trial, the shooter said that "it would never have happened without my father's gun".

Nine dead, seven injured - that was the Serbian Ministry of the Interior's assessment after the bloodbath at the "Vladimir Ribnikar" elementary school in the center of Belgrade in early May 2023. The teenager, now 14 years old, stormed his school with a pistol and opened fire in a classroom. The massacre finally ended in the schoolyard, where the shooter was arrested.

There could have been even more victims
Despite the high death toll, there could have been even more victims, as it turned out. Investigations revealed that there were other names on a list of people who were to be attacked.

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Shooter not of criminal age at the time of the crime
The boy was considered a model pupil and was only 13 years old at the time of the crime and therefore not yet of criminal age. The murder weapon belonged to his father. At the start of the trial, the shooter now testified that the constant pressure to perform exerted on him by his mother led him to commit the massacre. Moreover, "it would never have happened without my father's gun" ...

The perpetrator, who was brought to the trial under the strictest security precautions, is not facing a prison sentence due to his age. However, the parents will be held responsible, as the father was a member of a shooting club and the weapon was probably kept unsecured at home.

Gun violence is extremely rare in Serbian schools. In the Balkan country, the purchase and possession of a firearm is legal with a permit. Serbia's government has ordered three days of national mourning following the massacre.