At least eight students and one teacher have been killed, and 13 others injured (6 critical), following a shooting at Ayser Calik Secondary School in Kahramanmaras, Turkey this morning.
The attacker, an 8th grade student, was armed with five guns and seven magazines which belonged to his ex-police officer father. The student brought the firearms in a backpack (the most common way kids sneak guns into schools in the US) and opened fire indiscriminately after entering two classrooms. In a video posted by a neighbor, gunshots can be heard for about 90 seconds.
The 14-year-old attacker died at the school and it’s unclear if his death was self-inflicted or by police.
When the shooting started, students jumped from the windows of the school instead of risking being trapped inside their classrooms. Social media posts also show students running from the campus.
“The sound of gunfire was very intense,” a Turkish broadcaster on NTV said, adding that there was “panic in front of the school”.
The attacker’s father has since been detained by police and Turkish authorities have imposed a ban on the broadcast of traumatic images from the shooting.
School shootings are rare in Turkey. In May 2024, a former student fatally shot a private high school principal in Istanbul five months after he was expelled. Turkey has strict gun laws require licensing, registration, and mental/criminal background checks with severe penalties for illegal possession. It’s unclear how these laws apply to current and former Turkish police officers.
School shooting yesterday in Turkey
At least 16 people were injured after a teenage former student opened fire at Ahmet Koyuncu Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in Siverek, Turkey. The shooting happened at around 09:30 AM local time today.
The teen fired “indiscriminately with a shotgun” both outside and inside of the school before killing himself. Those injured include 10 students, four teachers, a cafeteria worker, and a police officer. Graphic CCTV footage shows him walking down the hallway and firing at students as they flee.
One witness told local media:
“He [the gunman] was a kid, about 17-18 years old. Suddenly, he walked through the gate of the school yard. As soon as he entered, he pulled out a gun. It was a long, stocky one, like one of those pump-action shotguns with rims. He immediately started shooting left and right. Then he fired towards the school. Then he ran inside. He started shooting at anyone who came in front of him, and then with the students’ screams, the teachers’ screams, everyone immediately scattered.”
See more: Sixteen wounded at Turkish high school and active shooter trends in US
David Riedman, PhD is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my podcast—Riedman Report: Risk, AI, Education & Security—or my interviews on Freakonomics Radio and the New England Journal of Medicine.
This is another instance that even in foreign countries, this happens anywhere.
We take too much time blaming gun control laws, or blaming government. We don't blame who is ultimately responsible for these incidents.
If it is a child committing the act, we need to hold accountable both parents and children.
If it is an adult that is returning to do harm, you hold responsible that person. The weapon does not have a mind, cannot walk to a location, and cannot operate without a person behind the weapon. We all must be more realistic, point out those who want to harm, take decisive actions on school campuses like armed security at all entrances easily accessible, upgrade all cameras to AI generated to track and monitor, schools to have zero tolerance discipline and hold site administrators fully accountable, and hold district leaders to the same accountability. More accountability equals better outcomes.