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Second shooting in two days
A student opened fire on two classrooms at a middle school in Turkey on Wednesday, killing nine people and wounding 13 others, in the country’s second school shooting in two days, Turkish Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci said in Ankara.
AP reported that the 14-year-old gunman was killed, and that he arrived at the school armed with guns believed to belong to his father, a retired police officer, Kahramanmaras provincial Gov. Mukerrem Unluer said.
AP said the student was carrying five firearms and seven magazines, and that the motive wasn’t immediately known.
The BBC described the attack as killing “eight children shot dead on Wednesday in the city of Kahramaras” and also killing a teacher, with coffins emerging “each draped in the Turkish flag.”
The New York Times said an armed eighth-grader opened fire inside a middle school in southern Turkey on Wednesday, killing at least nine people and wounding 13 others, and that “One of those killed was a teacher.”
The attack took place in Kahramanmaras, and the Al Jazeera report said funerals were held for eight students fatally shot at school in Turkiye’s Kahramanmaras on Wednesday, which “claimed the lives of 10 people.”
Weapons, age, and entry
Multiple outlets described the shooter as a student in eighth grade who entered the school carrying multiple weapons and ammunition.
AP said the 14-year-old gunman arrived at the school armed with guns believed to belong to his father, a retired police officer, and that he was carrying five firearms and seven magazines.
The New York Times reported that the student, who was 14 years old, entered the school with five guns and seven magazines and “managed to reach two fifth-grade classrooms.”
The Al Jazeera-aligned Arabic-language report said “A student in eighth grade came to class carrying in his bag five firearms and seven magazines of ammunition,” and that the weapons “we believe belong to his father, who had previously been a police officer.”
NBC News also said “An eighth grade student came with five weapons and seven magazines — which we believe belong to his former police officer father — in his bag, entered two classrooms with fifth grade students.”
The BBC described the shooter as “a fellow student,14, who also killed a teacher,” and said the shots were heard from the family home beside the Ayser Calik Secondary School.
Official statements and motives
Officials framed the incident as a personal attack while also describing the shooter’s death and the state of the investigation.
AP said the interior minister said the attack was the country’s second such shooting in two days, and that “The motive of the attack wasn’t immediately known.”
NBC News quoted Mustafa Ciftci saying, “This was solely a personal attack carried out by one of our students, it is not a terror incident,” and said the governor had earlier said the shooter killed himself in the commotion.
The Arabic-language report said the governor of Kahramanmaraş Province, Makrem Onler, told reporters that “the shooter, a student, killed himself with his weapon amid the chaos.”
France 24 reported that Turkish police ordered arrests over online praise or fake news, and said Justice Minister Akin Gurlek stated that “At least nine people died in a school shooting in the southern province of Kahramanmaras” and that authorities detained more than 160 people.
Hürriyet Daily News quoted President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warning against turning the tragedy into “a political polemic,” writing “There is no politics of pain,” and saying authorities had launched “a full investigation into the attack.”
Mourning, funerals, and teachers
Beyond the immediate violence, outlets described funerals, grief, and public anger toward authorities and school safety.
The BBC described a father who wailed, “Oh, my martyred child,” and said coffins emerged “each draped in the Turkish flag,” while one woman yelled “Too late, too late,” and “You didn't save the children.”
The Peninsula Qatar described funerals drawing “a crowd of more than a thousand mourners” to Kahramanmaras, and quoted Yusuf’s father Vezir Yucel saying, “Our grief is endless. These children were like our own. They were all innocent,” at the funeral of four victims.
KTEN reported that some 3,500 teachers gathered in Ankara to call for the education minister to quit, with some shouting “Blood has stained my profession” and others chanting “Where were you while the children were dying.”
KTEN also quoted Vezir Yucel saying, “We have a tremendous pain,” and said he told AFP outside the mosque that his son’s friend Bayram Nabi Sisik was “such a good kid, respectful and very hardworking.”
The Peninsula Qatar described Leyla Naz Kurtgoz saying, “We are deeply saddened. We didn't know the victims, but something like this should never happen to children,” and said the slain pupils had survived the February 2023 earthquake that killed “around 60,000 people in Turkiye and neighbouring Syria.”
Online crackdown and investigation details
As Turkey mourned, authorities also moved to control information and investigate online activity tied to the shootings.
France 24 said Turkish police ordered the arrest of scores of people accused of “praising or spreading fake news about the country's recent school shootings online,” and that Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said “95 people had been taken into custody and 35 more suspects were being sought.”
France 24 added that “Access to 1,104 social media accounts had been blocked,” and that “Sixty-seven users linked to such posts directed at 54 schools have been detained.”
The BBC reported that “Around 150 people have been detained for social media posts about the killings,” accused of spreading misinformation or “glorifying crime and criminals,” and that “More than 1,000 social media accounts and Telegram groups have been blocked.”
Daily Sabah said Justice Minister Akın Gürlek announced investigations into “130 account holders by multiple prosecutors’ offices,” with “95 individuals detained,” and that “Access to over 1,100 social media accounts has been restricted.”
In parallel, the BBC reported that authorities said the killer referred on social media to an American gunman, Elliot Rodgers, and that “an entry on his computer, dated 11 April, indicated there would be a major attack ‘in the near future’.”
