Student kills 9 at middle school in Turkey, a day after another school shooting
A student opened fire at a middle school in southern Turkey, killing 9 people before also dying under unclear circumstances, according to officials. The attack happened a day after another school shooting in Turkey, though authorities have not said if the two incidents are connected.
The shooting happened at about 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Ayser Çalık Middle School in the Onikişubat district of Kahramanmaraş, a city in southern Turkey.
Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi said an eighth-grade student entered two classrooms with five guns and seven magazines brought from home and opened fire at random.
Çiftçi said 8 students and 1 teacher were killed. The attacker also died, though Governor Mükerrem Ünlüer said it was not yet clear whether he shot himself intentionally or was hit “during the chaos.”
Another 13 people were injured, including 6 who were in intensive care and 3 in critical condition. Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu later said 11 of the wounded were discharged and 9 remained hospitalized, indicating that at least 20 people were hurt, though authorities have not released a definitive total.
According to local media, the student appeared to target fifth-grade classrooms. He reportedly arrived at the school with a backpack, and officials believe the guns used in the attack may have belonged to his father, a former police officer.
Local media said both of the attacker’s parents were taken into custody while authorities investigate the attack.
The incident came a day after another school shooting in Turkey. On Tuesday morning, an ex-student armed with a shotgun opened fire at Ahmet Koyuncu Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in Siverek, a district in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa near the Syrian border, wounding 16 people before taking his own life.
Authorities have not released a possible motive in either case, and it remains unclear whether the two shootings were connected or whether Wednesday’s attack was inspired by the shooting a day earlier.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
