Eight people were killed and 14 wounded in Serbia’s second mass shooting in two days and a suspect was arrested, authorities said on Friday, causing horror in a nation that had just started three days of mourning for victims of the first shootings. The latest incident occurred late on Thursday in the village of Dubona, 42km (26 miles) south of Belgrade, authorities said. State broadcaster RTS said the suspect, a young man, had been involved in an altercation in a schoolyard. He left and then returned with an assault rifle and a handgun, opened fire and continued to shoot at people at random from a moving car.

“The suspect U.B., born in 2002, has been apprehended in the vicinity of the city of Kragujevac, he is suspected of killing eight people and wounding 14 overnight,” Serbia’s Interior Ministry said in a statement. An investigation was ongoing. An off-duty policeman and his sister were among those killed, RTS reported. “This is sad, the young policeman is my daughter’s age, born in 1998,” said Danijela, a middle-aged woman in Dubona. “My daughter is taking sedatives, we could not sleep all night. They grew up together.” Police used a helicopter, drones and multiple police patrols to hunt down the suspect.

“This is terrible for our country, this is a huge defeat. In two days so many … killed,” said Ivan, a Dubona resident. Serbs were still reeling from a mass shooting on Wednesday when a 13-year-old boy shot dead nine and injured seven at a school in Belgrade before turning himself in. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic was scheduled to address the nation around 10:30am (0830 GMT) on Friday.

Around 600 Serbian police, including the elite Special Anti-terrorist Unit (SAJ) and Gendarmerie were involved in the hunt for the suspect overnight in what was dubbed Operation Whirlwind, RTS reported. Heavily armed police set up a checkpoint in the village of Dubona overnight and searched incoming traffic. Armoured police SUVs and black vans circled the area.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP