The second attack, at a middle school in Kahramanmaraş, came one day after a former student opened fire at a high school in nearby Şanlıurfa.
ANKARA, Turkey — Two school shootings in southeastern Turkey within about 24 hours left nine people dead and at least 29 wounded after a 14-year-old student opened fire at a middle school in Kahramanmaraş on Wednesday, one day after a former student shot 16 people at a high school in neighboring Şanlıurfa province.
The back-to-back attacks turned two local crime scenes into a national shock in a country where school shootings are rare. Officials said the Wednesday attack killed eight students and one teacher and wounded 13 others, while the Tuesday attack injured 16 people but caused no additional deaths beyond the gunman. Turkish authorities said the second shooting was not tied to terrorism, but investigators in both provinces were still trying to establish motive, reconstruct the sequence of events and explain how two young attackers reached schools with guns on successive days.
The first attack unfolded Tuesday in the Siverek district of Şanlıurfa province. Gov. Hasan Şıldak said an 18-year-old former student entered a vocational high school with a shotgun and fired at random. Ten students, four teachers, a canteen employee and a police officer were wounded. Most were treated in Siverek, but five students and teachers were transferred to the provincial capital because their injuries were more serious. Şıldak said the gunman later killed himself after being “cornered by police.” He also said the attacker had no criminal record and described the shooting as an isolated incident. One student told Anadolu Agency that he and a friend escaped by jumping from a classroom window. By Wednesday morning, before families in Siverek had fully absorbed what had happened, emergency calls were already moving again in Kahramanmaraş.
Officials said the second attack happened at Ayser Çalık Secondary School in the Onikişubat district of Kahramanmaraş. Gov. Mükerrem Ünlüer said a male eighth-grade student arrived with five firearms and seven magazines in a backpack, entered two fifth-grade classrooms and opened fire indiscriminately. Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftci later said eight students and one teacher were killed and 13 other people were wounded, six of them critically. Authorities said the attacker also died, but by Wednesday night they still had not publicly settled whether he killed himself or was killed during the response. Çiftci said, “This was solely a personal attack,” and added that investigators had found no sign of terrorism. Officials also said the weapons were believed to belong to the boy’s father, a retired police officer who was detained for questioning. Early reports from the scene carried lower casualty figures, but officials revised the toll upward through the day as hospitals and investigators completed the count.
The two shootings exposed different security failures. In Siverek, the attacker was no longer a student, yet he still entered the campus with a shotgun. Şıldak said the school had earlier been assessed as safe, so no permanent police officer had been assigned there. Local media reports said the former student may have posted threats on social media before the attack, but officials had not confirmed that as motive by Wednesday night. In Kahramanmaraş, the central question was not only how a student reached two classrooms with so many weapons, but how those guns were stored at home and whether warning signs were missed. Fifth-grade students in Turkey are usually 10 or 11 years old, a fact that deepened the public shock around the second attack. Parents rushed toward the middle school after hearing reports of gunfire, and television footage showed worried crowds gathering outside as ambulances moved in and out of the school grounds.
The broader context also sharpened the debate. School shootings are unusual in Turkey, which is one reason the two attacks landed with such force. Turkey generally requires licenses for legal gun ownership, but access to firearms can be easier for current and former security personnel. That detail moved to the center of the story after authorities said the Kahramanmaraş student probably used weapons linked to his father, a former police officer. The two cases also raised separate questions about school protection. In Siverek, officials now have to explain how a former student was able to walk into a high school and fire before police stopped him. In Kahramanmaraş, investigators must account for how a middle school student carried five guns and seven magazines into the building, why he moved into two classrooms of younger children and whether any students or staff were specifically targeted before he began shooting.
By Wednesday evening, the response had moved well beyond emergency medicine. Kahramanmaraş Chief Public Prosecutor Ramazan Murat Tiryaki said a criminal investigation was underway. Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said three deputy chief public prosecutors and four public prosecutors had been assigned to the case, and Education Minister Yusuf Tekin traveled to the province after the shooting. The education ministry said four chief inspectors were also sent to examine what happened. Çiftci announced that education in Kahramanmaraş would be suspended for two days. Authorities imposed restrictions on the broadcast of traumatic images and told media outlets to rely on official statements while the inquiry continues. What remains unclear is whether the father of the younger shooter will face charges, whether investigators will confirm any personal grievance in either case and whether the government will order broader security or gun storage changes after the two attacks.
The human scenes from both campuses gave the numbers their full weight. In Siverek, students ran from classrooms and emergency crews moved the wounded through school grounds that had been ordinary minutes earlier. In Kahramanmaraş, families crowded outside the school gates and hospitals waiting for word on children and teachers. Security forces and medical teams remained at the school well into the day as prosecutors and forensic teams began their work. Officials tried to reassure the public that there was no wider campaign behind the violence, but the short gap between the attacks made that reassurance hard for many parents to absorb. For families in both provinces, the story was no longer just about two shooters. It was about the sudden collapse of routines that had started as school days and ended in hospital wards, police cordons and unanswered questions that will likely outlast the first wave of official statements.
As of Wednesday night, both shooters were dead, the father of the younger suspect was being questioned and investigators in two provinces were still working through witness statements, video, weapons evidence and hospital updates. The next major milestones are formal prosecutorial findings in both cases and any public decision on charges tied to the weapons used in the Kahramanmaraş attack.
Author note: Last updated April 15, 2026.