TURGUTLU, Türkiye: A young person opened fireplace outdoors a highschool in western Türkiye on Tuesday (Sep 22), wounding 11 individuals earlier than being detained by police, a minister stated.
The incident occurred round 8am (1pm, Singapore time) in Turgutlu in Manisa province, close to the western resort metropolis of Izmir, the regional governor’s workplace stated.
Faculty shootings are uncommon in Türkiye, though there have been two assaults in April on consecutive days in southern Türkiye that sparked widespread anger.
“Eleven college students had been injured, two of them critically. The minor who carried out the assault was shortly apprehended and brought into custody,” Justice Minister Akin Gurlek wrote on X.
He stated the suspect’s mother and father and grandfather had additionally been detained by investigators probing the assault, which noticed police and rescuers speeding to the scene alongside panicked mother and father.
DHA information company broadcast CCTV footage of the alleged attacker, a younger man carrying black denims, a black jacket and a inexperienced high, strolling alongside a avenue holding what seemed to be a long-barrelled gun.
IHA had an identical picture of what seemed to be the identical particular person with a gun, though this time working.
NTV personal tv stated it was a shotgun.
Footage from outdoors the varsity confirmed police wrestling a person in a white shirt to the bottom earlier than main him away, as a lady screamed, with onlookers pressed towards the varsity fence, filming with their cellphones.
Authorities have opened an investigation into the incident, Gurlek stated.
“How the weapon used within the assault ended up within the minor’s fingers, the situations beneath which it was saved and supervised … and allegations of bullying previous to the incident are all being investigated,” he wrote on X.
The training ministry stated all classes had been suspended for the day on the college.
SCHOOL SAFETY
The assault got here 5 months after two back-to-back college shootings that raised public considerations about safety in Turkish colleges.
In April, a 14-year-old opened fireplace at a college within the southern province of Kahramanmaras, killing a instructor and 9 college students aged 10 and 11. The attacker died on the scene.
A day earlier, one other teenager opened fireplace at his former highschool within the southeastern province of Sanliurfa, wounding 16 individuals earlier than taking his personal life when confronted by police.
Following the 2 assaults, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dismissed a deputy training minister and pledged his authorities would introduce tighter controls on gun possession.
He vowed college security could be one of many authorities’s high priorities.
“Once we take a look at related assaults around the globe, particularly in the US, we see one of many perpetrators’ goals is to terrorise society,” he stated.
NEW SECURITY MEASURES
The assault got here a day after Schooling Minister Yusuf Tekin and Inside Minister Mustafa Ciftci signed a protocol setting out safety measures for the 2026-2027 educational yr, which started on Sep 14.
He stated 31,000 college grounds supervisors had been deployed for the primary time.
The ministry additionally carried out a contemporary safety evaluation of colleges and assigned cops to first- and second-degree danger colleges, the place they continue to be on everlasting responsibility, he stated.
Colleges categorized as decrease danger are assigned police liaison officers who work in coordination with college administrations.
