16 injured in school shooting in southeastern Turkey
An ex-student armed with a shotgun opened fire at a high school in southeastern Turkey, indiscriminately shooting down a hallway and wounding 16 people before taking his own life, according to local officials.
The shooting happened at about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at Ahmet Koyuncu Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in Siverek, a district in Turkey’s southeastern Şanlıurfa province near the Syrian border, according to the local governor’s office.
Officials said 10 students, 4 teachers, 1 police officer and 1 canteen operator were injured in the attack. In a later update, the governor’s office said 7 of the wounded had been discharged, while 9 remained hospitalized in Şanlıurfa, including 3 in serious condition.
The attacker was identified by officials only as Ö.K., a former student born in 2007. Authorities said he had attended the school only in the 9th grade before later enrolling in an open education high school program.
Officials said the gunman entered the school with a shotgun and opened fire without targeting a specific person.
Footage leaked online from bystanders and school surveillance cameras appears to show him walking into the building with the weapon, firing repeatedly down a hallway, reloading and then continuing to shoot, hitting several people.
The governor’s office said the attacker died by suicide inside the school with the same weapon while police were moving in to stop him.
One injured student told Anadolu that the shooting happened near the end of a break period. He said the gunman entered the classroom without saying anything and began firing.
“He came into the classroom and pulled the trigger. He started firing 4 or 5 times,” the student said, according to Anadolu. “Two people were shot, then he went to the classroom next door. First we threw ourselves to the ground, then two of us jumped out the window.”
A witness outside the school told Anadolu that gunfire began shortly after the attacker entered the campus, leading to panic as people ran from the building before police arrived.
The governor’s office said a criminal investigation was opened by prosecutors in Siverek, along with a separate administrative investigation into the attack and its causes. Officials later said one suspect had been detained, but did not identify that person or describe the alleged role.
The attacker’s name, social media accounts and possible motive have circulated widely online since the shooting, but Turkish officials have not confirmed those details.
The post 16 injured in school shooting in southeastern Turkey appeared first on BNO News.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
