On Tuesday, a teenager opened fire outside a high school in western Turkey, resulting in 11 people being injured. The police apprehended the shooter shortly after the incident. A government minister confirmed the details of the event, emphasizing the swift response from law enforcement.
The shooting occurred a day after Education Minister Yusuf Tekin and Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci introduced a raft of new security measures for the academic year which began last week. there were two separate attacks by teenagers on consecutive days in April that shocked the nation, sparking deep concern about school security Although such shootings are rare in Turkey. “Eleven students were injured, two of them seriously… The minor who carried out the attack was quickly apprehended and taken into custody,” Justice Minister Akin Gurlek wrote on X. “Gunshots rang out. I immediately went out onto the balcony. He was swearing as he walked towards the side street. Footage from outside the school showed police wrestling a man in a white shirt to the ground before leading him away, as a woman screamed, with onlookers pressed against the school fence, filming with their mobile phones. The attack came five months after two back-to-back school shootings that raised public concerns about security in Turkish schools. The attacker died at the scene. Following the attacks, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged his government would introduce tighter gun controls and vowed school safety would be a top priority. Schools classified as lower risk were assigned police liaison officers to work with the school administrators. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
The incident happened around 8:00 am (0500 GMT) in Turgutlu in Manisa province, near the western resort city of Izmir, the regional governor’s office said. In April, a 14-year-old opened fire at a school in the southern province of Kahramanmaras, killing a teacher and nine students aged 10 and 11. A day earlier, another teenager opened fire at his former high school in the southeastern province of Sanliurfa, wounding 16 people before taking his own life when confronted by police. Ciftci said the ministry had deployed 31,000 school grounds supervisors and assigned police officers on permanent duty to first- and second-degree risk schools.
He said the suspect’s parents and grandfather had also been detained by investigators probing the attack, which saw police and rescuers rushing to the scene alongside panicked parents. Speaking to IHA news agency, one local resident said they saw the gunman moments after the shooting, saying he appeared to be angry. He was shouting,” he said. Authorities have opened an investigation into the incident, Gurlek said. “How the weapon used in the attack ended up in the minor’s hands, the conditions under which it was kept and supervised… and allegations of bullying prior to the incident are all being investigated,” he wrote on X. The education ministry said all lessons were suspended for the day at the school. “When we look at similar attacks around the world, especially in the United States, we see one of the perpetrators’ aims is to terrorise society,” he said.
Eyewitness Accounts and CCTV Footage of Shooting Incident
Eyewitnesses reported that a young man opened fire on people in the area while armed with a rifle. One witness stated, “We could not intervene because he had a rifle.” CCTV footage aired by DHA news agency shows the alleged shooter wearing black jeans, a jacket, and a green top, holding what appears to be a long-barrelled weapon. IHA also released an image of the same individual, this time captured running with a firearm. NTV private television characterized the weapon as a shotgun.
