BELGRADE, Serbia — Hundreds of people laid flowers and lit candles on Friday to commemorate the victims of Serbia’s first-ever school shooting a year ago that left nine children and a school guard dead and six people wounded.
A somber, silent queue formed on a rainy day outside the Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School in central Belgrade where a 13-year-old boy is accused of opening fire at his schoolmates with his father’s guns last year.
The shooting stunned Serbia. The Balkan nation was no stranger to violent crime, but mass shootings are rare, and none had taken place at a school before.
Just a day later, a shooting rampage outside the capital further shocked the country. A 20-year-old man was accused of killing nine and wounding 12 others, mostly young people.
Friday’s vigil formally started at 8:41 a.m., the time of the school shooting last year. Serbian television stations interrupted their broadcasts, showing the text “We remember” on a black screen.
The all-day event near the school also included art installations, a panel discussion and short films about the victims. The street where the school is located is closed to traffic.
The event was titled “Awakening,” a call for introspection in a nation that is yet to come to terms with its role in multiple wars in the 1990s and the culture of violence that has prevailed ever since.
Ninela Radicevic, who lost her 11-year-old daughter Ana Bozovic in the shooting, told The Associated Press ahead of the anniversary that society and the government had “rushed to forget” the tragedy.
“We have missed many chances to react better … (but) I think it is never too late to pause … and to try not to make the same mistakes in the future,” said psychology professor Aleksandar Baucal, who is part of a team behind the commemoration.
