Authorities announced on Friday that eight people were killed and 14 were injured in Serbia's second mass shooting in two days, and that a suspect had been apprehended, causing anguish in a nation that had just begun three days of mourning for victims of the first shootings.
The most recent incident occurred Thursday night in the village of Dubona, 42 kilometers (26 miles) south of Belgrade, according to authorities.
Second Mass Shooting in Serbia
The suspect, a young male, was embroiled in a fight in the schoolyard. He departed, returned with an assault rifle and a handgun, opened fire and continued shooting at random from a moving vehicle. An off-duty police officer and his sister were among those slain. Per Reuters, the police used a helicopter, drones, and numerous patrols to locate the suspect.
More than 600 members of the Serbian Special Forces, along with helicopters and thermal imaging cameras, were deployed to search for the perpetrator, according to the public broadcaster RTS.
All special police units, including an anti-terrorism unit, helicopter unit, and police forces from Belgrade and Smederevo, were deployed. Uros B. was apprehended on Friday morning near the central city of Kragujevac, located approximately 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Mladenovac municipality.
Photos released by the Ministry depicted Interior Minister Gasic on location. CNN was informed by the Ministry of the Interior that this incident is being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism, but no further information was provided.
Images depict ambulances passing through checkpoints supervised by armed security personnel, as well as police vehicles blocking adjacent roads. On the highway between Dubona and the capital of Serbia, Belgrade, police vehicles line the shoulder as officers conduct a search at dawn.
According to state media, Serbian Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic labeled Thursday's drive-by shootings a terrorist act. As police searched for the perpetrator, hundreds of special police and helicopter units, as well as ambulances, were dispatched to the area, which was sealed off.
The incident occurred one day after a 13-year-old boy used his father's firearms to kill eight classmates and a security officer at a Belgrade school. The carnage sent shockwaves throughout a Balkan nation scarred by conflicts but unfamiliar with mass murders.
Even though Serbia is awash in armaments from the 1990s conflicts, the school murder on Wednesday was the first in the country's modern history. Prior to this week, the last mass shooting occurred in 2013 when a war veteran murdered 13 people in a village in central Serbia.
Thursday was dominated by the aftermath of Serbia's first fatal murder in ten years. Students, many of whom wore black and carried flowers, flooded the sidewalks surrounding the school in the heart of Belgrade as they paid silent tribute to their slain classmates.
Teachers' unions in Serbia have called for demonstrations and strikes to warn of a crisis in the education system and demand reforms. On the same day, authorities moved to tighten gun control, with police urging citizens to secure their firearms and keep them out of the reach of minors.
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Serbia Tightens Gun Regulation
The government ordered a two-year ban on short-barreled firearms, stricter regulation of gun owners and shooting ranges, and harsher penalties for those who provide access to firearms to juveniles.
According to CBS News, a registered gun possessor in Serbia must be at least 18 years old, physically fit, and have no criminal record. Weapons must be stored securely and apart from ammunition.
Wednesday morning's gunfire at the primary school named after Vladislav Ribnikar resulted in the hospitalization of six students and one teacher. Doctors reported Thursday morning that a girl who was wounded in the head remains in critical condition and a boy who sustained spinal injuries is in severe condition.
According to authorities, the shooter, identified by police as Kosta Kecmanovic, is too immature to be charged and prosecuted. He has been committed to a mental institution, while his father has been detained on suspicion of jeopardizing public safety after his son gained access to firearms.
Rifle culture is prevalent in Serbia and throughout the Balkans: The region has one of the greatest rates of firearm ownership per capita in Europe. At celebrations, firearms are frequently discharged into the air, and the veneration of the warrior is an integral part of national identities.
