Teenager kills eight children and a security guard in school shooting

The boy reportedly used his dad's gun

Police said the incident, at the Vladislav RIbnikar elementary school in the capital Belgrade around 8:40am local time (7:40am UK time), has left nine dead.

Another six pupils and a teacher were injured and have been taken to hospital, the interior ministry said in a statement.

The suspect, a seventh-grade student, has been arrested.

The interior ministry statement added: "The police sent all available patrols immediately to the spot and arrested a suspected minor - a seventh-grade student who is suspected of firing several shots from his father's gun in the direction of students and school security."

According to a report by Sky News, the boy fired several shots from his father's gun.

Officers in helmets and bulletproof vests cordoned off the area around the school after the shooting and led the suspect, whose head was reportedly covered, from the scene.

Milan Milosevic, the father of one of the pupils at the elementary school, said his daughter was in the classroom when the shooting began, but managed to escape.

He said the suspect "first shot the teacher and then he started shooting randomly", Sky News quoted him as saying.

Milosevic said it is thought the suspect "was quiet and a good pupil" but had only recently joined the class.

A girl who attends a high school adjacent to Vladislav Ribnikar told state TV RTS: "I saw kids running out from the school, screaming. Parents came, they were in panic. Later I heard three shots."

Mass shootings are rare in Serbia, which has very strict gun laws.

Related links:

EastEnders actor arrested on suspicion of child sex offence

Prosecutors to appeal against sentence on rapist deemed ‘too young’ for jail

Man shoots girl, 6, her parents and neighbour after basketball rolls into his yard in America

Woman, 20, shot dead after mistakenly pulling into wrong driveway

Man accused of stabbing 9 year-old girl to death deemed unfit to stand trial