Ex-student wounds 16 in gun attack on school in Turkey

A former student has opened fire at a high school in south-east Turkey, wounding at least 16 people before killing himself.

The 18-year-old attacker, armed with a shotgun, fired randomly at a vocational high school in Siverek in the province of Sanliurfa, before hiding inside the building. He later killed himself with the same shotgun after being “cornered by police”, governor Hasan Sildak said.

The attack left 10 students, four teachers, a canteen employee and a police officer wounded, Mr Sildak said.

While most of them were being treated in Siverek, five of the wounded teachers and students were transferred to a hospital in the provincial capital because their conditions were more serious, the governor said.

The motive remains unclear. School shootings are rare in Turkey.

He didn’t say anything, he entered and started to shoot directly

The attacker did not have a criminal record, Mr Sildak said. The school had been declared safe and no permanent police officer was assigned to protect it, he added, calling the shooting an “isolated incident”.

NTV television and other media reports said the assailant had threatened an attack on the school on social media prior to the shooting.

One student told the state-run Anadolu Agency that he and a friend jumped out of their classroom window to flee the attacker.

“He suddenly entered the classroom and fired. He fired four or five times. Two people were hit. He then went into the next classroom,” Anadolu quoted the student as saying. “We first threw ourselves to the ground and then two of us jumped out of the window.”

The student added: “He didn’t say anything, he entered and started to shoot directly.”

Earlier, media reports said all students were evacuated and police special operations units were deployed after the assailant refused to surrender.

“The individual was cornered inside the building through police intervention and died after shooting himself,” Mr Sildak told reporters, adding that a “comprehensive” investigation into the shooting would be carried out.

Video footage showed dozens of students running out of the school towards the gate and on to the street.