Türkiye mourns the victims of a mass school shooting

Türkiye on Thursday mourned nine people, most of them children, who were killed when a 14-year-old boy opened fire on them inside a school. Authorities said he was planning an attack. "big" He was cited in a photo on his account in WhatsApp, perpetrator of a mass killing in United States.

andThe attack occurred in Kahramanmaraş province in the south of the country, and it is the second of this kind witnessed in Turkey this week, in a country where such incidents are rare.

Dated document

The Public Prosecution in Kahramanmaraş Province said, in a statement on Thursday: "During the examination of the digital materials, a document dated April 11, 2026 was found on the suspect’s computer, indicating that he intended to carry out a major operation in the near future."

The armed boy entered two classrooms and opened fire randomly, while officials reported that he was carrying five weapons.

Local authorities said that funeral ceremonies would be held in the city of Kahramanmaraş for eight children between the ages of 10 and 11, in addition to a 55-year-old teacher.

Mass killings

The police reported that the boy participated, on his own account, in WhatsApp, a photo of American Elliot Rodger, the perpetrator of a mass killing in the United States.

According to a police statement "Preliminary results of the investigation revealed that the perpetrator used an image on his WhatsApp account referring to Elliot Rodger, who carried out an attack in the United States in 2014."

Rodger, an American who was 22 years old at the time, killed six people on the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara, before ending his life.

He explained in a video clip published shortly before his attack that what he would do was tantamount to "punishment" To the women who rejected him.

Circumstances of death

The authorities said that the boy who carried out the shooting on Wednesday died at the scene of the incident, without clarifying the circumstances of his death.

According to the police, his father, a former police inspector, was arrested on Wednesday and placed in custody, explaining that he "Digital devices seized during searches at the perpetrator’s home and in his father’s car have been confiscated and are currently being analysed".

She added "Based on preliminary results, no connection to terrorism was found. The incident appears to be an isolated incident"

The authorities announced that schools in Kahramanmaraş Province will remain closed Thursday and Friday.

Dozens Arrested

In a related context, the police announced on Thursday that they had ordered the arrest of dozens of people accused of publishing controversial content on social media, following two bloody shooting incidents in two schools this week.

She said in a statement. "Arrest orders were issued for 83 people who were found to have shared publications and activities that glorify crime and criminals and negatively affect public order, and legal measures have been taken against them."

Blocking and closing

The statement continued that access to 940 social media accounts was also blocked, and 93 groups on the application were closed. "Telegram"

Before Thursday’s incident, a student opened fire in his former high school in the Sivrik district in the southeast of the country on Tuesday, wounding 16 people, including students, before committing suicide.

The two successive incidents sparked protests among teachers, as dozens of members of their main unions gathered on Wednesday evening in front of the Ministry of Education in Ankara, and called for a two-day strike throughout Türkiye.

/>The protesters raised a banner with the words: "We will not surrender our schools to violence".

While President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his sadness over "Tragic attack" Which occurred on Wednesday, pledging to reveal its circumstances "From all its aspects".

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