The crowd gathered in Belgrade on the evening of 3 May (photo M. Moratti)
On Wednesday 3 May, Belgrade was hit by a terrible news story. A boy not yet 14 shot inside the Vladislav Ribnikar school, killing eight students and a janitor. The breaking latest news of the tragedy
It seems like a morning like any other in Belgrade, the return of a long spring weekend characterized by spring temperatures and picnics in the parks. The city is actually quite slow in resuming its usual pace. Traffic is scarce, many have probably taken advantage of it to extend the short holiday at the beginning of May.
The quiet is suddenly broken by sirens, not one or two as you regularly hear, but a continuous, unceasing howl of sirens chasing one after another in the streets. It is at this moment that we understand that something is wrong, that it is not normal for there to be so many sirens on a day in May.
The first budget
The news soon began to circulate confusedly on social networks. “Something terrible has happened at the Vladislav Ribnikar school!” quote the first tweets. The area is immediately surrounded and blocked by the police. As time passes the dimensions of the tragedy begin to emerge. At first it seemed that only the janitor had been shot dead, then the blogs of the Ministry of the Interior speak of eight schoolchildren plus the janitor for a total of nine dead. The identities of the victims have not yet been disclosed, but it seems that among them there is also a French citizen . This is the provisional balance, while six other students and another teacher were injured even if it seems that the their condition is improving .
The details
The shooter was a boy initially identified only by the initials KK and whose name Kosta K was later revealed. According to reports, it was Kosta himself who call the police at 8 and 42 once the massacre was completed. The boy, not yet fourteen, is not criminally liable. Once arrested the police found a diagram of the school’s rooms, a list of victims and apparently in his bag he had four petrol bombs. This is what has been rebuilt so far, the motive that prompted Kosta K to commit this act remains unknown, even if it has been mentioned several times the possibility that his was a reaction to bullying and violence suffered in schools. However, this hypothesis has not been confirmed. The boy’s father was arrested. Apparently, he kept the two guns his son used in a combination-locked safe.
The reaction of the people
National mourning has been proclaimed in Serbia which will last three days. On the evening of the massacre (May 3), students, parents and citizens gathered near the schools to light candles, lay flowers and pay homage to the victims. An unceasing procession of several thousand people went on for several hours. Traffic has long been blocked on Kneza Miloša and all surrounding areas. In the late evening a group of citizens went to the nearby Ministry of Education where they observed a minute of silence while some placards asked resignation of the minister
Some people deposit flower crowns in Belgrade on the site of the massacre (Photo M. Moratti)
The reaction of the institutions
The reaction of the institutions and politics began to flock right away. Among them that of the Minister of Education, Branko Ruvić who said it was a “bestial gesture” and it is evident the influence of the internet, video games and so-called western values but that the institutions had done their duty. Vučić himself said in the evening that Serbia was united in the pain and that in any case there had been no errors on the part of the institutions. Vučić then supplied further information both on the family and on Kosta K’s scholastic and personal situation and finally proposed to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 14 to 12 years. The reaction of Health Minister Danica Grujičić was more composed, who said that this was the case worst experience of his life both as a doctor and as a person.
Now is the time for silence and reflection in Belgrade, but it is easy to foresee that in the next few days, as the facts become clearer, there will be the first questions, reactions and that soon the pain for what happened in Vračar will give way to anger that already surfaced yesterday in the comments of many people.
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