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Şanlıurfa High School Shooting: Eyewitness Recounts Terror as 18 Injured Before Attacker Dies by Suicide

Şanlıurfa High School Shooting: Eyewitness Recounts Terror as 18 Injured Before Attacker Dies by Suicide

From Cumhuriyet · (2d ago) Turkish Critical tone

Translated from Turkish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

TLDR

  • A shooting occurred at Ahmet Koyuncu Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in Şanlıurfa, Turkey.
  • An assailant, believed to be between 18-20 years old, opened fire with a long-barreled weapon, injuring 18 people, including students and teachers.
  • The attacker reportedly died by suicide with the same weapon after the incident.

A shocking act of violence has disrupted the educational environment at Ahmet Koyuncu Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in Şanlıurfa. A young assailant, reportedly armed with a long-barreled rifle, unleashed a hail of bullets within the school premises, injuring numerous students and teachers. The incident, which occurred in the morning, sent shockwaves through the community. Eyewitness accounts describe a scene of chaos as the attacker indiscriminately fired shots before tragically taking his own life. Emergency services, including health, police, and special operations teams, were swiftly deployed to the scene. Students were evacuated, and the injured were transported to hospitals for treatment. This deeply disturbing event underscores the urgent need for enhanced security measures in educational institutions and raises profound questions about the factors contributing to such violence.

He was a child, 17-18 years old. As soon as he entered through the outer door, he started firing with the long-barreled weapon in his hand. First to the right and left, then he fired at the school. Then he ran inside the school. Inside, he directly shot whoever was in front of him. Then the students screamed, everyone ran somewhere.

— Gökhan BaşaranoğluAn eyewitness describing the sequence of events during the school shooting.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Cumhuriyet in Turkish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.