Gunman opens fire near Turkish high school, wounding at least 11
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- A gunman opened fire near a vocational high school in western Turkey, wounding at least 11 people; three remained in critical condition.
- Police arrested a 15-year-old student suspected of carrying a shotgun and firing randomly before fleeing. Authorities detained members of his family as they investigated the motive.
- The shooting came after two deadly school attacks in Turkey earlier this year, prompting the government to increase security at educational facilities.
ANKARA, Turkey — A gunman opened fire near a high school in western Turkey on Tuesday, wounding at least 11 people, officials said. Police arrested a suspect.
Three of the wounded were in critical condition and receiving intensive care, Education Minister Mustafa Ciftci said. One person had been discharged from the hospital.
The shooting occurred outside a vocational and technical high school in the Turgutlu district of Manisa province, the governor’s office said. Police and medical teams were sent to the scene.
HaberTurk news channel said the assailant was a 15-year-old student at the school. The report added that he arrived at the scene armed with a shotgun and fired randomly near the school before trying to flee the scene on foot.
The assailant took the gun from his grandparents’ house, Ciftci said.
The motive of the attack was not known, according to Justice Minister Akin Gurlek, who said two chief prosecutors were appointed to investigate the shooting, including claims that the student was bullied at the school.
The assailant’s parents and grandfather, who owned the gun, were taken into custody as part of the investigation, Gurlek said.
Security camera video showed the alleged attacker walking down a street carrying a weapon. Another video showed him running down a street, still carrying the weapon.
Anxious parents rushed to the school and confrontations broke out between them and police who blocked the entrance to the building, Cumhuriyet newspaper reported.
The attack came months after Turkey was shocked by two school shootings this year. The government increased security at educational facilities at the start of the academic year last week.
In April, 16 people, mostly students, were wounded when a former student opened fire at a high school in Sanliurfa province in Turkey’s southeast. The assailant later killed himself.
The next day, a 14-year-old student opened fire on two classrooms at his school in nearby Kahramanmaras province, killing eight students and a teacher and wounding 13 others. The attacker was killed by police.
Fraser writes for the Associated Press.
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