Gunman Injures 16 in Turkey School Attack

A teenager opened fire at his high school in southeast Turkey on Tuesday, April 14, injuring 16 people before dying by suicide.

Governor Hasan Sildak of Şanlıurfa province in southeastern Turkey identified the 18-year-old gunman as a former student at the school, born in 2007. He fired randomly at a vocational high school in Siverek, Sanliurfa province, before hiding inside the building.

Ambulances were stationed outside the school, and special security forces were deployed after the gunman refused to surrender before shooting himself.

Sildak said the attack left 10 students, four teachers, a canteen employee and a police officer wounded. At the same time, most of them were being treated in Siverek, and five of the wounded teachers and students were transferred to a hospital in the provincial capital because their conditions were more serious.

He also told reporters that students had evacuated the school premises, and a thorough investigation into the shooting would be carried out.

“We have evacuated the school and will carry out a thorough investigation into this tragic incident.”

Video footage showed dozens of students running out of the school toward the gate and onto the street.