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First mass school shooting in Turkey leaves eight children dead
Kahramanmaraş, a city known for its ice cream, became the site of Turkey's first fatal school shooting on Wednesday, when a 14-year-old student killed eight children and a teacher before dying at the scene.
A city in mourning
Outside a morgue in southeastern Turkey, mourners carried small coffins draped in the Turkish flag. One belonged to a 10-year-old boy, his father collapsing under grief as he cried, "Oh, my martyred child, oh my darling."
Relatives and neighbors gathered as the victims were brought out one by one. A woman shouted at police, "Too late, too late! You didn't save the children." Another demanded the attacker be hanged in the main square-though he was already dead, killed during the rampage.
At the city's main mosque, a mother wept as she touched her daughter Zeynep's coffin. The 10-year-old was described by her uncle as "clever and respectful." "She became an angel and flew away," he said, his voice breaking. "My only wish is for better school security so no one else suffers this pain."
Two attacks in two days raise alarm
The shooting followed another incident just a day earlier, when a former student wounded 16 people at a nearby school before taking his own life. Both attacks occurred in lower-income cities, sparking fears of copycat violence.
"These things have a way of spreading,"
Prof. Asli Carkoglu, teen psychology expert
Carkoglu warned that the Kahramanmaraş attack could inspire other frustrated young people. While mass shootings are new to Turkey, she noted that school violence-including stabbings and beatings-has been rising for years.
Attacker's motives and access to weapons
Authorities revealed the shooter had referenced Elliot Rodger, the 2014 California gunman who killed six students. A note on his computer, dated April 11, hinted at an impending "major attack."
The weapons came from his father, a former police officer now under arrest. Local media reports describe the teenager as bright but troubled, spending hours playing war games and attending therapy sessions.
Government cracks down on social media
In response, Turkish authorities detained 150 people for posts about the killings, accusing them of spreading misinformation or "glorifying crime." Over 1,000 social media accounts and Telegram groups were blocked.
Police insist the Kahramanmaraş shooter acted alone and had no ties to terrorist groups. No connection has been found between the two recent attacks.
A nation grappling with new trauma
Outside the locked school gates, teachers left flowers for the victims. For Turkey, where school shootings were once unthinkable, the tragedy has left a deep scar.
"The guns weren't there before, but the violence was," Carkoglu told the BBC. Now, the country faces a painful reckoning with a horror long familiar to other nations.
