Student kills 9 in Turkey's second school shooting in two days
· Toronto Sun
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – A student opened fire on two classrooms at a middle school in Turkey on Wednesday, killing nine people and wounding 13 others, the interior minister said, in the country’s second such shooting in two days.
The 14-year-old gunman was killed.
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He arrived at the school armed with guns believed to belong to his father, a retired police officer, Kahramanmaras provincial Gov. Mukerrem Unluer said.
The attacker was carrying five firearms and seven magazines.
The motive of the attack wasn’t immediately known. It was not clear whether the gunman was killed by police or killed himself.
Six of the 13 people wounded were in serious condition, Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci said.
The attack came just a day after 16 people, mostly students, were wounded when a former student opened fire at a high school in nearby Sanliurfa province. The assailant later took their own life.
State-run broadcaster, TRT , identified the latest shooter as Isa Aras Mersinli and said his father was detained for questioning.
School shootings rare in Turkey
Until this week, such school shootings were rare in Turkey.
Turkish authorities imposed a ban on the broadcast of “traumatic” images from the shooting, warning media organizations to limit coverage to statements from officials.
Earlier, media reports said authorities sent police and ambulances to the school in the Kahramanmaras’ Onikisubat district after gunfire was heard there.
Images from the scene showed at least two people being put into ambulances.
Parents rushed to the school after hearing reports of an armed attack, NTV television reported, adding police took security measures around the school.