At least four people, including three students and a teacher, were shot dead while 20 others were wounded at a school in Turkiye on Wednesday, AP reported, citing a local official.
The attack came a day after a gunman injured 16 people and then killed himself at another school.
Mukerrem Unluer, governor of Kahramanmaras province, said a teacher and three students were killed in the latest attack. Speaking to reporters, Unluer said, “A student came to school with weapons we believe belonged to his father in his backpack. He entered two classrooms and opened fire at random, causing injury and death.”
According to the report, the student who was also killed was carrying five firearms and seven magazines believed to belong to his father, a retired police officer. Unluer said at least four of the injured were in serious condition, adding that the motive for the attack was not immediately known.
The report added that a video released by the private news agency IHA showed the person, body and face covered in an ambulance, along with crying parents rushing to a school in the southern provincial capital of Kahramanmaras.
Following the incident, police stepped up security around the school building and television footage showed ambulances in the area.
Turkish Justice Minister Akin Gurlek noted that prosecutors had launched an immediate investigation into the latest shooting.
Second incident in two days
Earlier on Tuesday, a former student opened fire with a shotgun at his former high school in the Siverek district of Sanliurfa province, wounding 16 people before killing himself in a shootout with police. Reports indicate that up to 10 students and a teacher were among the injured.
Despite these two incidents in two days, reports indicate that school shootings in Turkiye are rare. In May 2024, a former student shot and killed the principal of a private high school in Istanbul, five months after he was expelled.
This is a developing story. Further details were awaited.
