Sixteen individuals sustained injuries when a 17-year-old male initiated gunfire at a school in Turkey, as confirmed by authorities. The incident unfolded at Ahmet Koyuncu Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in the Siverek district of Sanliurfa on Tuesday morning. Following the attack, the teenager, who was a former student born in 2007, took his own life, according to Sanliurfa Governor Hasan Sildak. Governor Sildak reported, “We have 16 injured. The attacker committed suicide. We evacuated the school. The incident is under thorough investigation.”
Medical, police, and special operations teams promptly responded to the scene after the attack occurred around 9:30 am local time. A witness informed Turkish television channel NTV that the assailant entered the school premises carrying a shotgun and opened fire randomly before proceeding into the school building. The attacker allegedly held students hostage within the school.
Omer Furkan Sayar, one of the injured students, recounted to TRT, Turkey’s state broadcaster, that he and another peer leaped out of a window to evade the assailant’s attack. Sayar stated, “First we threw ourselves to the ground, then two of us jumped out of the window. He didn’t say anything to us, he just came in and started shooting.”
Turkey’s Interior Ministry disclosed that the attacker had been identified and indicated that, based on preliminary findings, 10 students, four teachers, one police officer, and one canteen worker sustained injuries and were transported to Siverek State Hospital.
The ministry further revealed that the teenager conducted the assault using a pump-action shotgun before ending his own life with the same weapon. The motive behind the attacker’s actions remains unclear, prompting an ongoing investigation.
Situated in southeastern Turkey, Siverek is approximately 70 miles away from the Syrian border.
