Turkey Mourns School Shooting Victims Amid New Findings On Attack

The shooting on April 15 marked the country’s second such incident in a single week, an alarming development in a nation where school shootings have historically been rare.

According to officials, the 14-year-old gunman entered two classrooms and began firing indiscriminately. Authorities said he was carrying five firearms at the time of the attack.

Local officials confirmed that funeral services will be held in Kahramanmaraş for eight children, aged 10 and 11, along with a 55-year-old teacher.

Prosecutors leading the investigation stated on April 16 that the suspect had planned what they described as a “major” attack in advance.

A statement from the Kahramanmaraş Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said that a document dated April 11 was discovered on the suspect’s computer, indicating his intention to carry out a large-scale act in the near future.

Police also revealed that the teenager had used an image on his WhatsApp profile referencing Elliot Rodger, who carried out a deadly attack in the United States in 2014. 

Rodger, then 22, killed six people near the University of California Santa Barbara, before taking his own life. In a video released prior to the attack, he described his actions as “retribution” against women who had rejected him.

Authorities said the 14-year-old perpetrator died at the scene, although the exact circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear.

The suspect’s father, a former police inspector, was jailed pending trial on April 15, with his mother also detained. Law enforcement officials noted that digital materials seized from the suspect’s home and his father’s vehicle are currently undergoing forensic analysis.

Preliminary findings indicate no links to terrorism, with investigators treating it as an isolated act.

Schools across Kahramanmaraş will remain closed on April 16 and 17.

The incident follows another school shooting earlier in the week in the Siverek district of the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, where a student opened fire at his former high school, injuring 16 people before taking his own life.

The back-to-back attacks have sparked public outrage.

Dozens of members from major teachers’ unions gathered outside the Education Ministry in the capital Ankara on April 15 evening, calling for a nationwide two-day strike. Protesters held banners reading: “We will not surrender our schools to violence.”