Serbia shooting leaves eight dead, just one day after school shooting kills nine

A drive-by shooting in a town close to Belgrade, Serbia, on Thursday left eight dead and 13 others wounded, marking the second mass shooting in the country in the past two days.

The shooter used an automatic weapon to randomly attack people near the town of Mladenovac, situated roughly 30 miles south of the capital, according to Radio Television of Serbia.

Reports indicate that police are still searching for the 21-year-old attacker, who fled the scene.

Serbian Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic referred to the shooting as “a terrorist act.”

No police statements have yet been issued, but the news report indicated that special police, helicopter units and ambulances had been sent to the region.

On Wednesday, a 13-year-old boy used his father’s guns to go on a shooting rampage in his Belgrade school, killing eight of his schoolmates and one security guard.

The attack also left six children and one teacher hospitalized, with one still in critical condition.

News of the bloodshed came as a shock to the Balkan nation. Although the country contains a large quantity of weapons left over from wars in the 1990s, mass shootings have been extremely rare, and Wednesday’s was the first school shooting in Serbia’s modern history.

Students from all over the city crowded outside the school on Thursday, wearing black and carrying flowers to pay homage to peers who were killed. Thousands lined up to lay flowers, light candles and leave toys in their memory.

Experts have repeatedly warned about the excess of guns in the country, which ranks among the top in Europe in terms of the number of guns per capita.

With News Wire Services