A 15-year-old student allegedly opened fire on children heading to school in western Turkey Tuesday morning, leaving 11 students injured and triggering a major investigation into how the teenager obtained the shotgun.
The shooting happened shortly before 8 a.m. on Sept. 22 near İnci Üzmez Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in Turgutlu, a district in Turkey’s Manisa province.
Turkey’s Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi later said 11 children were injured in the attack. Three were in more critical condition after undergoing surgery and remained in intensive care, while one of the other students had already been discharged from the hospital.
The suspect, identified by Turkish media only by the initials H.O. because he is a minor, is a ninth-grade student at the school.
Authorities say he allegedly arrived near the school carrying a pump-action shotgun before firing at students who were walking to class roughly 80 to 100 meters — about 260 to 330 feet — from the campus.
Security-camera footage reportedly captured the teen approaching the area with the weapon and later fleeing on foot. Police located him and took him into custody shortly afterward. Footage from the scene and the investigation was published by Turkish news agency DHA. See DHA’s video report from the scene
The suspect’s mother, father and grandfather were also detained as investigators examine how the teenager gained access to the firearm.
Officials Give New Details About the Gun
Later information released by Çiftçi added a major detail to the investigation.
The interior minister said the pump-action shotgun was registered to the teenager’s grandmother and had been stored at his grandfather’s home. According to Çiftçi, investigators believe the teen obtained the gun there before carrying out the attack.
That account provides more detail than some early reports, which offered conflicting information about who legally owned the weapon.
Turkey’s Justice Ministry said prosecutors are examining not only how the gun reached the teenager but also how it had been stored and whether the suspect’s parents fulfilled their legal duties to supervise him.
The Turgutlu Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office opened a criminal investigation, with two prosecutors assigned to the case. Officials also said allegations that peer bullying preceded the shooting are being examined, but authorities have not publicly established bullying as the motive.
Some Turkish media outlets have reported that the teenager had recently been involved in disputes with other students, but those accounts remain part of the investigation and have not been established as fact.
School Was Already Considered Higher Risk
The case is also raising questions about security around the school.
Çiftçi revealed that İnci Üzmez Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School had already been classified by authorities as a “first-degree” risk school under Turkey’s school-security assessment system.
A security officer and a school grounds worker were reportedly on duty at the time of the attack.
The Interior Ministry has now assigned two senior civil inspectors and two senior police inspectors to investigate the incident. Turkey’s Education Ministry has also assigned inspectors of its own.
Education officials suspended classes at the school for the day and deployed psychosocial support teams to assist students, teachers and families shaken by the shooting.
The attack prompted senior government officials, including the interior and education ministers, to travel to Manisa and visit injured students in the hospital.
Authorities said the investigation will focus on several questions, including whether warning signs were missed, whether the weapon was properly secured and whether any school or family safeguards failed before the shooting.
As of Tuesday evening in Turkey, authorities had reported no deaths. Ten of the 11 injured students remained hospitalized, including three being treated in intensive care.
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