Police arrests suspect after eight dead in second Serbia mass shooting

Police arrests suspect after eight dead in second Serbia mass shooting

Police arrested a suspect after eight people were killed in Serbia's second mass shooting in just two days, as President Aleksandar Vucic on Friday responded to what he said was a "terrorist attack" with proposed tough new gun control measures.

The Balkan country was already reeling from a mass shooting on Wednesday, when authorities say a 13-year old boy shot dead nine and wounded seven at a school in Belgrade before turning himself in.

Serbs had just begun three days of mourning on Friday for those victims as news broke of the second incident, which authorities said occurred late on Thursday in the village of Dubona, 42 km (26 miles) south of Belgrade.

"This is terrible for our country, this is a huge defeat. In two days so many ... killed," said Ivan, a resident of Dubona.

State broadcaster RTS said the suspect, a young man, had been involved in an altercation in a school yard. 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.

In a sombre national address, Vucic, wearing a dark suit, said the gunman had been wearing a T-shirt with neo-Nazi symbols. He gave no further details about the shootings.

Vucic proposed a moratorium on gun permits regardless of weapons type, in what he called a "practical disarmament" of Serbia that would also include more frequent medical and psychological checks of gun owners.

The government would also hire 1,200 new police officers to improve security in schools, said Vucic.

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