A 14-year-old boy opened fire in his prestigious school in the Serbian capital Belgrade on Wednesday morning, killing eight children and a security guard and seriously injuring more people, according to officials.
The rare and shocking incident prompted panic among parents at the school, many of whom gathered outside the facility and were desperately trying to reach their children.
Six children and one teacher have been hospitalized, Serbia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said. The boy was arrested in the building’s yard, according to the ministry.
The alleged shooter was later filmed being taken from the school in handcuffs with a jacket over his head and wearing blue, skinny jeans. He was flanked by police officers and driven away in an unmarked police car.
“The wounded are being administered medical care, while the police work to establish the facts and circumstances that led to this incident,” the ministry statement said.
“All police forces are still on the ground and are intensively working to shed light on all the facts and circumstances that led to this tragedy,” it added.
Serbia has a high level of gun ownership following its conflict with Kosovo in the 1990s; a 2018 study found that the country has the third highest level of gun ownership in the world, tied with Montenegro and behind only the US and Yemen.
But the country has strict gun laws and has issued amnesties for owners to hand in or register illegal firearms, meaning that mass shootings are comparatively rare, according to Reuters.