Serbian court convicts parents of teen who fatally shot 10 at Belgrade school

On Monday, a court in Serbia sentenced the parents of a teenager who last year shot and killed nine students and a school guard and wounded six others in a school in the center of Belgrade.

The High Court in Belgrade sentenced Vladimir Kecmanović, the boy’s father, to 14 years and six months in prison for “grave crimes against general security” and child neglect. Miljana Kecmanović’s mother was sentenced to three years in prison for child neglect, but was acquitted of illegal possession of weapons.

The attacker, identified as Kosta Kecmanović, was 13 when he committed the crime and was therefore too young to stand trial under Serbian law. His parents were taken into custody shortly after the shooting and charged for not keeping the weapon out of their son’s reach.

The massacre at the elementary school “Vladislav Ribnikar” in the center of Belgrade on May 3, 2023 shocked the Balkan people, who are used to crises, but did not deal with a mass shooting at a school.

The couple’s lawyer, Irina Borović, said that the verdict was not a surprise “because the public pressure was huge and the expectations were huge”. Borović said that she will appeal the verdicts.

Ninela Radičević, who lost her daughter in the shooting, says: “We are not satisfied because no one was held accountable for the murder of nine children” and the school guard.

The boy shot his colleagues and others with his father’s pistol. He walked into the school and first opened fire in the hallway before going into the classroom, where he continued to shoot.

Elementary schools in Serbia enroll students from 7 to 15 years old.

Police said the teenager called them after the shooting and calmly told them what he had done. Since the shooting, he has been in a specialized institution, and he testified at his parents’ trial. The trial was closed to the public except for the reading of the verdicts.

Also convicted and sentenced to 15 months in prison for perjury was the shooting instructor who worked at the range where the boy was practicing.

The school shooting was followed the next day by another mass murder in villages outside Belgrade. Uroš Blažić (21) took an automatic rifle and opened fire at several locations, killing nine people and injuring 12. Earlier this month, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The back-to-back shootings sparked a wave of street protests and a crackdown on widespread illegal gun ownership.