It's been a year since a seventh-grade student walked into Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School in Belgrade with a gun and Molotov cocktails, killing nine students and a security guard, and wounding six more students and a teacher. What exactly happened on May 3, 2023 and what is known about the case since then
It was a gloomy, rainy day. After the sunny May Day holidays, the fog descended on Belgrade. And there was nothing to suggest that the day would pass differently than usual in a city of two million people. Until the emergency vehicles started flying through the center of Belgrade.
Exactly one year ago, on May 8rd at 41:XNUMX in the morning, thirteen-year-old KK fired the first shot. Eight students and a security guard were killed in the shooting that day at the "Vladislav Ribnikar" elementary school, while one seriously wounded girl died twelve days later. The perpetrator, also a child, committed the crime with two of his father's guns. He made Molotov cocktails himself.
The hours after the shooting were marked by the agony of distraught and uninformed parents, the shameless coverage of tabloids eager for exclusives, and the rush of doctors and emergency workers. After several hours of silence from the authorities, the then Minister of Education Branko Ružić, Minister of Health Danica Grujičić and Belgrade Police Chief Veselin Milić addressed the public at an extraordinary conference.
In school
Milić was the first to present the official information. He stated that around 8:40 a.m. that day, the assistant director of Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School called the police and reported that a child had entered the school with a firearm and was shooting randomly. According to him, two minutes after the first call, the MUP was called by someone who introduced himself as KK and said that he had shot several people.
"The weapon used to commit the crime was found, as well as four Molotov cocktails." He had a list of children he planned to liquidate. A motive has not yet been established. Nor did he tell us. He took the pistols from his father's apartment. He left them in the bag he had prepared and took four Molotov cocktails with him," said Milić.
He then went on to describe the entire event, giving details that were not allowed to be made public.
For example, the list of children who were "priority targets" for KK. Milić showed the list at the press conference, together with a sketch of the exits and entrances to the school and the layout of the classrooms and the departments that had classes in them. Soon both papers ended up in the media and on social networks. The surviving children from the liquidation list and their parents could also see them.
Months later, the minutes of the inspection carried out by the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Protection of Personal Data determined that at the conference on May 3, Veselin Milić did not violate the law by showing the list of "priority targets" in front of the cameras. The commissioner pointed out that the culprits are the media that reported it.
In front of the school
Shortly after the first report of the shooting, a crowd began to form in front of the school. Terrified parents, journalists, emergency services and the police, who did not take long to close the street. Heartbreaking scenes of parents running to hug their children when they see them leaving school alive and well. Even more poignant scenes of parents who could not find their children. And who waited for hours for any information.
Ivana Stefanović, a doctor from the Belgrade Emergency Service, said later in CINS' Clues Podcast that it was thought for a long time how to inform the parents that their children were killed.
"You know, when you see a parent, you can't just share that kind of information." And maybe some parents went to one hospital, to another to look for their child, but I was there and I can tell you that from the first second, the best solution was really sought. You cannot bring them into the school. It's still an investigation, they have nowhere to go and then we came to the decision that anyone whose child doesn't answer should report to the police station and our teams were there again," said Stefanović.
A few hours after the shooting, information arrived from SUP Vračar that parents who still cannot get in touch with their children should come to the police station. There, on the second floor, in the presence of the police and an ambulance team ready to come if someone fell ill, the parents were informed one by one that their children did not survive. Andrija, Ana, Bojana, Sofia, Adriana, Katarina, Mara and Emma were killed.
That's when security worker Dragan Vlahović, a favorite among children, also died. The badly wounded Angelina Aćimović died twelve days later.
Some of the parents of the injured children said they understood why the police waited to tell them the tragic news.
"Well, now, from this perspective, I understand, it's even justified that... The way they communicated to us. Well, they had, I don't know, an emergency room in the office next door, if someone got sick, they didn't make a scene in front of everyone... I mean, 'yes' from that side, but... I can't say, better than if they told us there". said Ivan Božović, the father of the murdered Ana.
The days that followed and the return of the children to the benches
That evening, a large number of citizens gathered on Cvetni trg to mourn together the murdered children and the school guard. In the days that followed, it seemed as if all of Belgrade gathered in front of Ribnikar to light a candle, leave a message for the victims and write in the book of mourning. But, despite the crowd that did not decrease, there were no quieter streets in Belgrade in those days than Njegoševa, Kralj Milutin and Svetozar Marković.
"Vladislav Rybnikar" model elementary school did not work for the next week. On May 10, following the recommendation of the Ministry of Education and engaged psychologists to "return to the routine", the children found themselves back in the classrooms of the Witchcraft School.
The students did not have classes, but had discussions with class teachers and psychologists. On the first day, they stayed at school for 90 minutes, the next day an hour longer. While some parents welcomed the decision to return to the classrooms, others believed that it was too early for such a thing and that the children were retraumatized by it.
After several months of disagreements about what should be done with "Vladislav Ribnikar" Elementary School, in March of this year, the decision of the Government of Serbia on the formation of a Working Group for the establishment of a memorial center in memory of the victims of the mass murder at this school was announced. It is not yet known what the memorial center will look like and which part of the school it will cover.
Charges against parents
One of the most common questions in those days - besides the simple "why" - was how a thirteen-year-old child could shoot. It would later turn out that his father took him to the shooting range in his spare time.
The boy's father, Vladimir Kecmanović, was detained on the day of the shooting in "Ribnikar" and is still in custody. After more than five months, charges were brought against him and his wife.
KK's father was accused of committing a serious crime against public safety for taking a 13-year-old boy to a shooting range and teaching him to shoot, as well as for allegedly storing guns and ammunition in weapons transfer cases, packed in a backpack, instead of holding them in the safe. For this, he faces twelve years in prison.
The indictment was also brought against the boy's mother, Miljana, because her DNA was found on one of the shell casings found in "Ribnikar". The prosecutor is asking for a sentence of two years in prison for her. The criminal proceedings against Kecmanović were closed to the public in order to protect the interests of minor victims.
In addition to the boy's parents, the instructor and the owner of the shooting range where, as it is suspected, he learned to shoot, are accused. But not because the boy was banned, but because, according to the indictment, they allegedly falsely testified that KK was not in their shooting range.
A total of five civil proceedings were initiated against the boy, his parents and the school. The Kecmanovićs are also being tried in civil proceedings based on the lawsuit filed against them by 27 members of the families killed in the shooting in Ribnikar. They are seeking compensation for non-material damages for the mental pain suffered due to the death of a close person, as well as for the fear suffered.
Uncertain future of KK
Despite the charges against his parents, KK's future is uncertain. From May 3 until today, he was placed in the Clinic for Neurology and Psychiatry for Children and Youth. No criminal or misdemeanor charges can be filed against him because the law prescribes a minimum age of 14 for criminal responsibility, while KK was 13 at the time of the mass murder.
That is why in July of last year the Ministry of Health presented a proposal on amendments to the Law on the Protection of Persons with Mental Disabilities, which would for the first time regulate the treatment of children under the age of 14 who cannot bear criminal responsibility.
The proposal states that children who are a serious danger to others will be treated in a closed psychiatric facility with special security. The court will decide on the duration of the treatment every six months, based on the psychiatrist's assessment. The treatment can last indefinitely.
After the public hearing on the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on the Protection of Persons with Mental Disabilities, a group of organizations for the protection of human rights drew the public's attention to its shortcomings.
"Although it is extremely important to legally regulate the position of children who, due to their age, are not responsible for the serious acts they have committed, we believe that this draft completely ignores many aspects of the realization of children's rights, and as a result may result in the dehumanization and ostracization of these children from society. while it does not lead to the improvement of community safety, for which prevention programs, improvement of early identification of children at risk and referral to adequate interventions are necessary," the statement of the Center for Children's Rights reads.
Celebrating the anniversary
The trial of KK's parents began on January 29. The next hearing is scheduled for May 15. And that's where we stop one year after the shooting in "Ribnikar".
This Friday at 8.40:10 a.m. in Ulica Kralja Milutina 8, where the mass murder took place, the families of the murdered, relatives, friends and citizens who need to express solidarity and empathy will gather, and it was decided that at 41:XNUMX a.m. the media will stop the program for a minute .
On Saturday, from 19:3 a.m. to 4:2023 p.m., in the area near the monument to Desanka Maksimović in Tašmajdan, a forum will be organized in which citizens can talk with representatives of the Multidisciplinary Team about issues related to the causes and consequences of the mass murders on May XNUMX and XNUMX, XNUMX.
Bojana Asović (3), Ana Božović (2023), Katarina Martinović (11), Mara Anđelković (11), Ema Kobiljski (12), Sofija Negić ( 13), Andrija Čikić (13), Adriana Dukić (13), Angelina Aćimović (14) and Dragan Vlahović (14), and six people were wounded.
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