Teenager shot 10 people/ Court sentences parents to prison

2026-06-19 08:57:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The parents of a boy who fatally shot nine children and a security guard at a Serbian elementary school have been sentenced to prison in a retrial in Belgrade.

The boy was 13 years old when he shot dead seven girls, a boy and a school guard at the Vladislav Ribnikar school in Belgrade in 2023. Another girl later died in hospital.

The shooter was under the age of criminal responsibility and had been placed in a psychiatric facility, but his parents Vladimir and Miljana Kecmanovic were charged with neglect and abuse of a minor, while his father was also charged with a serious criminal offense against public safety.

Kecmanovi? was sentenced to 14 years and six months in prison on Thursday. His wife received two years and 11 months.

Both the defense and the prosecution have filed appeals against the prison sentences.

Zora Dobri?anin, a lawyer representing the victims' families, spoke of the trial as a "long battle" that would continue in the appeals court.

Mass shootings were extremely rare in Serbia, and school shootings were unheard of when the attack in Belgrade occurred on May 3, 2023. The boy had taken two pistols from his father's safe, put them in his backpack, and went to school, opening fire in the hallway and then into a classroom.

In addition to the 10 people killed, five other children and a history teacher were injured.

Two days later, a gunman killed nine people in a car attack near Belgrade.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in protest, and the Serbian government responded with a weapons amnesty and tougher laws.

The boy's parents first appeared in court in 2024, when the court heard their son's testimony behind closed doors.

Although the father was given a long prison sentence for training his son to use guns and failing to store them safely, the boy's mother was acquitted of illegal possession of firearms and convicted of negligence. An instructor from a shooting range where the boy practiced with guns was also found guilty of giving false testimony.

However, the Belgrade appeals court ordered a retrial for the boy's parents in November 2025, ruling that the reasons behind the decisions were unclear and contradictory. The father was kept in custody, while the mother was allowed to remain out of prison until the trial this year.

The retrial began last January, and the chief prosecutor argued that the sentences for the parents would provide part of the answer to how Serbian society responded to one of the most tragic events in the country's peaceful history.

Duke detajuar atë që kishte ndodhur më 3 maj 2023, gjykatësi zbuloi se djali kishte qëlluar 66 plumba gjatë një periudhe prej dy minutash e një sekonde, dhe shumë prej tyre kishin goditur viktimat e tij, thanë raportet serbe.

Avokati mbrojtës i çiftit i tha gjykatës se vendimi i saj për t’i shpallur të dy prindërit fajtorë për neglizhencë nuk ishte ndryshe nga vendimi fillestar që ishte rrëzuar.

Ata argumentuan se akuzat nuk ishin vërtetuar dhe nuk ishte dhënë asnjë mendim eksperti si provë se djali ishte neglizhuar./CNA, përkthyer nga BBC