(CNN) — Eight children have died after a 14-year-old boy allegedly opened fire in his elementary school in the Serbian capital Belgrade, officials reported Wednesday.
A security guard was also killed, while another six children and one teacher have been hospitalized, Serbia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said.
The 14-year-old boy allegedly targeted his own school and was arrested in the building’s yard, according to the ministry.
The department said in a statement on Facebook that it was informed at 8.40 a.m. local time (2.40 a.m. ET) that a school shooting had occurred at the Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School in Vračar, an upscale area of the Serbian capital.
“All available police patrols were dispatched to the scene, where they immediately went onto the school grounds and apprehended a minor, a seventh-grader who is suspected to have fired several shots from his father’s gun at students and the school security guard,” the statement said.
A schoolgirl injured in the shooting has life-threatening wounds and was undergoing surgery, CNN affiliate N1 reported.
“The wounded are being administered medical care, while the police work to establish the facts and circumstances that led to this incident,” the ministry statement said.
“All police forces are still on the ground and are intensively working to shed light on all the facts and circumstances that led to this tragedy,” it added.
