The Albany Gazette - Teenager kills nine, wounds 13 in Turkey school shooting

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 confirmed nine deaths, with 13 wounded -- six in intensive care, three of them in a critical condition.

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.

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.

The interior and education ministers travelled to the city, while Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said prosecutors had launched an immediate investigation into the shooting.

-'Tragic'-

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "In this tragic attack, we unfortunately lost our bright young children and a devoted educator".

He said the incident would be "thoroughly clarified in all its aspects," in a message on X, while warning that the pain from this attack should "not be politicised".

The shooting came a day after an ex-student opened fire with a shotgun at his former high school in Siverek district of Sanliurfa province, in the southeast of the country.

That gunman wounded 16 people before killing himself in a showdown with police. Ten students were among the casualties.

Police detained one suspect after Tuesday's attack and suspended four officials from duty. The school was ordered closed for four days.

Main opposition CHP leader Ozgur Ozel called for broader security measures.

"At this point, it is clearly evident that violence in schools can no longer be explained by isolated incidents," he wrote on X.

"This issue has turned into a growing and deepening security vulnerability," he said.

Measures such as ensuring full control at school entrances and exits, increasing the number of security personnel, strengthening camera systems, intensifying police patrols around schools, and keeping emergency crisis plans ready are now essential, he added.

"The security of schools is entrusted to our state. No negligence or deficiency in this regard can be excused anymore," Ozel said.

School shootings in Turkey had been rare until this week. In May 2024, a former student killed a private high school principal in Istanbul with a firearm five months after he was expelled.

Turkey has strict gun laws that require licensing, registration, mental and criminal background checks, and severe penalties for illegal possession.

(B.Smith--TAG)