ANKARA, Turkey — A former student opened fire at a vocational high school in southeastern Turkey on Tuesday, wounding at least 16 people before killing himself, authorities said.
The 18-year-old attacker, armed with a shotgun, fired indiscriminately inside the school in Siverek, located in Sanliurfa province. According to Governor Hasan Sildak, the suspect later took his own life with the same weapon after being cornered by police inside the building.
Among those injured were 10 students, four teachers, a canteen employee, and a police officer. Most victims were treated in local hospitals in Siverek, while five individuals with more serious injuries were transferred to a hospital in the provincial capital.
Authorities said the motive for the attack remains unclear. School shootings are considered rare in Turkey, and officials described the incident as isolated. Sildak noted that the attacker had no prior criminal record and that the school had previously been assessed as secure, with no permanent police presence assigned.
Local media reports, including NTV, indicated that the suspect had allegedly posted threats on social media prior to the shooting.
A student who witnessed the attack described the chaotic scene, saying he and a classmate jumped out of a classroom window to escape.
“He suddenly entered the classroom and fired. He fired four or five times. Two people were hit. He then went into the next classroom,” student Omer Furkan Sayar told the state-run Anadolu Agency. “We first threw ourselves to the ground and then two of us jumped out of the window.”
“He didn’t say anything, he entered and started to shoot directly,” Sayar added.
Earlier reports said police special operations units were deployed after the attacker refused to surrender. All students were evacuated from the campus as authorities secured the area.
“The individual was cornered inside the building through police intervention and died after shooting himself,” Sildak told reporters, adding that a comprehensive investigation is underway.
Video footage from the scene showed dozens of students fleeing the school grounds and running into the street as the situation unfolded.
Edgardo Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
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