Turkey Rocked by Another Mass School Shooting
On 15 April, a 14-year-old entered a middle school in the Kahramanmaraş province of Turkey and began shooting, killing eight students, a teacher, and himself. Thirteen other people were wounded in the attack.
It was the second mass school shooting in the country this week; on 14 April, a former student with a shotgun wounded 16 at a high school more than 200 kilometers (124 miles) away before taking his own life. There have been no reported linkages between the two attacks.
The 14-year-old had five guns and seven magazines of ammunition. He accessed two 5th-grade classrooms and opened fire in each. Authorities said they believed the weapons belonged to the shooter’s father, who is a retired police officer. The shooter’s mother is a teacher, and authorities said both parents had been detained. (It was not reported where the mother taught.)
The shooter’s father reportedly told authorities that his son had a fascination with firearms and that he had tried to teach his son about firearms to discourage this interest. The pair had reportedly practiced shooting together two days earlier.
Reuters reported the shooter had used an image in his WhatsApp profile that referenced Elliot Rodger who murdered and injured several people in a 2014 attack near the University of California at Santa Barbara. Prior to his attack, Rodger had posted about his incel ideology online, and he has been celebrated by others in the misogynistic and incel communities. It is not known if the shooter in Turkey shared incel or misogynistic views.
Authorities said they found a document on the attacker’s computer from 11 April that said he “intended to carry out a major operation in the near future.”
Prior to this week, school shootings were rare in Turkey. A mass shooting at Osmangazi University in 2018 that resulted in the death of four faculty members was motivated by accusations of abuse that had been brought against the assailant. Last month, a 17-year-old stabbed and killed his teacher at a high school in Istanbul. One media report of the March incident said, “In recent years, Turkey has seen repeated incidents of violence involving students, teachers and school staff.”
Turkish police have cracked down on people referencing the shootings this week online. They have arrested more than 160 people, accusing them of engaging “in posts and activities praising crime and criminals and negatively affecting public order.”
Ninety-five individuals were arrested because they allegedly shared footage related to the attacks in defiance of the government’s ban on broadcasting such material. Another 67 were detained for suggesting in online posts that attacks would be carried out at other schools. It is not known if these posts were meant as warnings or threats.
In addition, authorities have placed restrictions on more than 1,000 social media accounts.
Resource: ASIS International School Security Standard.
