Eighth grader kills 10, wounds 12 in Turkey school shooting

A 14-year-old armed with five guns opened fire at a Turkish school on Wednesday, killing 10 people, wounding a dozen and sparking scenes of mayhem as students jumped out of windows to escape.

The attack in the southern province of Kahramanmaras province was Turkey’s second such incident in as many days, shocking a country where school shootings are a rare occurrence.

Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci initially confirmed nine deaths, but on Thursday officials said the death toll rose to 10 after one of those hospitalized had died.

The minister described the attacker as an “eigth grade student aged 14.”

“A student came to school with guns that we believe belonged to his father in his backpack. He entered two classrooms and opened fire randomly, causing injuries and deaths,” Kahramanmaras province governor Mukerrem Unluer told reporters earlier in the day.

Turkey’s national police said Thursday that the suspect had used a photo of a U.S. mass shooter as his profile picture on the messaging platform WhatsApp.

Dramatic video footage filmed by a resident of a nearby building and verified by AFP shows students jumping from a first-floor window of the school to escape the gunfire, while dozens of others flee through the courtyard.

About 15 gunshots can be heard in the one-and-a-half-minute video.

Unluer said the attacker was the son of a former police officer, armed with five guns and seven magazines. He died during the incident.

“He shot himself. It is not yet clear whether this was suicide or happened amid the chaos,” he said.

Police detained the shooter’s father, Ugur Mersinli, the official Anadolu news agency reported.

Footage released by IHA private news agency showed a person, body and face covered, being evacuated in an ambulance during the attack, as well as tearful parents who had rushed to the school in the southern province’s main city, Kahramanmaras. 

Police increased security around the building, and television footage showed ambulances in the area. Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said prosecutors had launched an immediate investigation.

The shooting came after another attacker on Tuesday opened fire with a shotgun at his former high school in Siverek district of Sanliurfa province, wounding 16 people before killing himself in a showdown with police. Ten students were among the wounded in that incident, in which the 18-year-old attacker fired randomly inside the vocational high school. 

He killed himself with the shotgun after he was “cornered by police,” Gov. Hasan Sildak said, The Associated Press reported.

The motive for that attack was unclear, and Sildak said the attacker had no criminal record.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking to the ruling AKP party in parliament, promised that those found to have been negligent or at fault “will certainly be held accountable” over the school shootings. Police detained one suspect after Tuesday’s attack and suspended four officials from duty, Erdogan said. The school was ordered closed for four days.

School shootings in Turkey had been rare until this week. Turkey has strict gun laws that require licensing, registration, mental and criminal background checks, and severe penalties for illegal possession.