(CNN) Hundreds of Serbian special forces are hunting down a gunman who killed at least eight people and wounded 13 others in the country’s second mass shooting in as many days.
The massacre took place 11 p.m. Thursday night, according to the country’s Interior Ministry.
The attacker was in a vehicle with two other people, and got out before opening fire with an automatic weapon in the village of Dubona, about 60 kilometers (about 37 miles) southeast of the Serbian capital Belgrade, according to CNN affiliate N1 and public broadcaster RTS.
He then fled the scene, before later shooting in the villages of Mali Orašje and Šepšin.
The three locations are all in the Mladenovac municipality of Serbia.
The shooter remains at large and a warrant has been issued for the suspect, a 21-year-old male identified as Uros B. by Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic.
Police stand guard at a checkpoint in Mladenovac, Serbia on May 5, 2023.
More than 600 members of Serbian Special Forces are searching for the suspect, according to the public broadcaster RTS, with authorities deploying helicopters and thermal imaging cameras.
Police have cordoned off the area where they suspect him to be hiding, according N1. All special police units are engaged, including an anti-terrorism unit, helicopter unit, and police forces from the cities of Belgrade and Smederevo.
Photos shared by the Ministry show Interior Minister Gasic at the scene. The Interior Ministry confirmed to CNN that they are treating this incident as an act of domestic terrorism, but did not specify more details.
A police officer and his sister were among those killed, according to local media.
An ambulance passes through a checkpoint during the aftermath of a shooting in Dubona, Serbia, on May 5, 2023.
Relatives of the injured are arriving at the Emergency Center in Mladenovac, N1 reported.
“The perpetrator is on the run, and all available patrols have been sent in the direction of Mladenovac and Mali Požarevac,” it added.
Images show ambulances passing through checkpoints manned by armed security forces, and police cars blocking off nearby roads. On the highway between Dubona and the Serbian capital Belgrade, police cars line the side of the road as officers carry out a search in the early dawn hours.
Police operate a checkpoint in the aftermath of a shooting in Dubona, Serbia, on May 5, 2023.
This comes a day after the Balkan country was rocked by news of a 13-year-old boy opening fire on classmates at a school in the capital Belgrade. That shooting left at least eight children dead, along with a security guard.
Until this week, mass shootings were rare in Serbia, despite the country’s high rate of gun ownership. Serbia has the highest level of civilian gun ownership in Europe, and the fifth-highest in the world — a legacy of years of conflict in the 1990s.
This is a breaking story. More to come.
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