13-year-old boy kills 10 people at Serbian school, parents on trial

Serbia has the highest gun ownership rate in Europe. (document)

Belgrade, Serbia:

The parents of a teenage school shooting suspect whose son’s killing spree left 10 people dead, including nine classmates, will go on trial in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, starting on Monday.

The incident last May and a second shooting a day later rocked the Balkan country, triggering massive demonstrations against the government that united an opposition coalition in recent elections.

The trial comes after Belgrade’s High Prosecutor’s Office charged the suspected gunman’s father with “acts seriously endangering public safety” in October.

According to prosecutors, the father trained his son to use firearms, practicing shooting and operating weapons.

The father is also accused of failing to properly secure his weapons and ammunition, leading the suspect to hide a handgun and 92 rounds of ammunition in a backpack, which he later used in the shooting.

The defendant’s mother was charged with illegal possession of ammunition.

Prosecutors also accused the head of a Serbian shooting club and a coach of giving false testimony.

The shooting suspect was 13 years old at the time of the attack and is not criminally responsible under Serbian law.

After the shooting, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic vowed to “disarm the country” with an ambitious plan to crack down on legal and illegal guns in the country.

Despite such promises, the shootings triggered massive anti-government protests in Serbian cities, with tens of thousands of demonstrators calling for senior officials to resign and for a reduction in violence in the media.

Vucic has largely dismissed the protests as a “political” stunt and peddled conspiracy theories that foreign powers allegedly orchestrated the rallies.

Serbia has the highest gun ownership rate in Europe, with more than 39 guns for every 100 civilians, according to the Small Arms Survey Project.

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