2026 Siverek school shooting

Last updated

2026 Siverek school shooting
2026 Siverek school shooting CCTV.png
The perpetrator loading his shotgun
Location 37°45′12″N39°19′33″E / 37.75333°N 39.32583°E / 37.75333; 39.32583
Siverek, Şanlıurfa Province, Turkey
Date14 April 2026 (2026-04-14)
c.9:30 a.m. (TRT; UTC+3:00)
Attack type
 School shooting, mass shooting, attempted murder-suicide
Weapon Pump action shotgun
Deaths1 (the perpetrator)
Injured16
PerpetratorÖmer Ket [1]
MotiveUnder investigation

On 14 April 2026, 19-year-old Ömer Ket opened fire at the Ahmet Koyuncu Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in Siverek, Şanlıurfa Province, Turkey, injuring 16 people before committing suicide. Twenty-eight hours after the shooting, another shooting occurred in the Onikişubat district of Kahramanmaraş. [2]

Contents

Background

In May 2024, a former student killed the principal of a private high school in Istanbul with a firearm five months after being expelled. He fled after the shooting and was arrested later. The killing triggered nationwide debate while thousands of teachers demonstrated in Istanbul, calling for increased school safety measures. [3] In March 2026, a biology teacher, Fatma Nur Çelik, was stabbed to death by a 17-year-old student, while another teacher and a student were injured. [4] Çelik had previously raised concerns about the student who would later kill her, he had disciplinary issues, and Çelik told colleagues, "we have no personal safety." [5]

Prior to the shooting in Kahramanmaraş, the deadliest school shooting in modern Turkish history was the Eskişehir University shooting in 2018. 37-year-old research assistant Volkan Bayar shot and killed four staff members and injured three other people at Eskişehir Osmangazi University in Eskişehir. [6] [7]

Turkey’s gun laws require licensing, registration, mental and criminal background checks, and severe penalties for illegal possession. [3] Although some say these laws are strict, [3] others say that the number of individual gun owners has increased dangerously. [8] [9]

Shooting

The gunman arrived at the school with a shotgun and opened fire randomly around 9:30 a.m. local time before hiding inside. Realizing he would be caught by the police, he killed himself with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. [10] [11] [12] CCTV showed the perpetrator walking through a corridor while firing at people. [13] [14] An injured student told Turkish Radio and Television Corporation that the gunman entered at least two classrooms, including the one he was in. Once he opened fire, students reportedly jumped out of a window. [15]

Victims

Ten students, four teachers, a cafeteria employee and a police officer were injured in the shooting. Eleven victims were treated in Siverek, while the other five were transported to a hospital in the provincial capital with more serious injuries. [11] [16]

Perpetrator

The perpetrator was identified as 19-year-old Ömer Ket (c. 2007 –14 April 2026), a former student of the school. He had previously been expelled for failing a grade due to absenteeism, amongst others in ninth grade, but continued with distance learning. [11] [17] He did not have a criminal record. The motive for the shooting is unknown and remains under investigation. [18]

After the Forensic Medicine Institute released his body to his family, Ket was buried in Urfa under heavy police guard. His family was placed under state protection and transported from Siverek. [19]

Aftermath

A day after the attack, a 13-year-old opened fire at a middle school in Onikişubat, Kahramanmaras, killing ten people and injuring 12 others before getting stabbed to death, making it the deadliest school shooting in Turkish history. [2] On the same day, a teenager opened fire at a student outside of a high school in Gaziantep. Five shots were fired but nobody was injured. [20] A high school student in Tarsus, Mersin, was also taken into custody after being caught with a handgun at school. [21]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Attack with 16 injured in Turkey, the perpetrator had warned of the act, here's what he wrote on social media". www.voxnews.al. 14 April 2026. Retrieved 14 April 2026.
  2. 1 2 "Student kills nine in Turkey's second school shooting in two days". Reuters . 15 April 2026. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 "Turkey school shooting wounds 16, attacker dead". France 24. 14 April 2026. Retrieved 14 April 2026.
  4. ↑ "Justice minister confirms probe into school stabbing in Istanbul". Daily Sabah. 3 March 2026. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  5. ↑ "Fatma Nur Çelik Murder". KÜRE Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  6. ↑ "Shooting at Turkish university leaves 4 people dead; attacker arrested". globalnews.ca.
  7. ↑ "Turkey university gunman kills four in Eskisehir". BBC. 5 April 2018.
  8. ↑ "Ülke koca bir poligon: Her cepte bir silah var". BirGün (in Turkish). Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  9. ↑ SCF (29 April 2025). "Gun ownership soars in Turkey, raising security concerns". Stockholm Center for Freedom. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  10. ↑ "Sixteen injured after ex-student opens fire at high school in Turkey". BBC News. 14 April 2026. Retrieved 14 April 2026.
  11. 1 2 3 "Gunman opens fire at high school in Turkey, wounding at least 16". CNN. 14 April 2026. Retrieved 14 April 2026.
  12. ↑ "16 kişiyi yaralayan okul saldırganının cenazesi sessizce toprağa verildi". Sözcü (in Turkish). DHA. 15 April 2026. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  13. ↑ "Sixteen injured and attacker dead after school shooting in Siverek, Turkey". Sky News. 14 April 2026. Retrieved 14 April 2026.
  14. ↑ "MSN". www.msn.com. Retrieved 15 April 2026.
  15. ↑ Hornung, Lisa (14 April 2026). "16 injured, attacker dead in school shooting in Turkey". United Press International . Retrieved 14 April 2026.
  16. ↑ "Students flee from Turkey high school during shooting". MSN. Retrieved 15 April 2026.
  17. ↑ Fisher, Clare (14 April 2026). "19-Year-Old Former Student Opens Fire in School, Wounding at Least 16 People Before Allegedly Killing Himself". People . Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  18. ↑ "At least 16 wounded, gunman dead in school shooting in Turkey". CBC News. 14 April 2026. Retrieved 14 April 2026.
  19. ↑ "16 kişiyi yaralayan okul saldırganının cenazesi sessizce toprağa verildi". Sözcü (in Turkish). DHA. 15 April 2026. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  20. ↑ "Gaziantep'te Lisede Silahlı Panik Yaşandı" [Gun Panic Erupts at High School in Gaziantep] (in Turkish). HaberTS. 15 April 2026. Retrieved 15 April 2026.
  21. ↑ "Tarsus'ta lise öğrencisi okulda tabancayla yakalandı" [A high school student in Tarsus was caught with a gun at school.] (in Turkish). Mersin Portal. 15 April 2026. Retrieved 15 April 2026.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.