Eleven students were injured, two of them critically, after a ninth-grade student opened fire outside a high school in the Turgutlu district of western Manisa province on Sept. 22 morning.
The attack took place at around 8 a.m. outside İnci Üzmez Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in Albayrak neighborhood. Authorities identified the suspect as H.O., a ninth-grade student at the school. All 11 injured were students, struck by shotgun pellets, and were taken to nearby hospitals. The motive for the shooting remains unclear.
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said at around 11:10 a.m. that two students were in critical condition. He said two prosecutors had been assigned to the investigation and confirmed that H.O., along with his mother, father and grandfather, had been detained. The grandfather was identified as the owner of the firearm allegedly used in the attack.
Gürlek said investigators were examining how the weapon came into the student’s possession and how it had been stored. “In close coordination with our relevant ministries and institutions, we are carefully monitoring both the judicial process and the condition of our injured students,” he said.
The Education Ministry assigned three inspectors to investigate the incident and deployed psychosocial support teams for affected students, teachers and parents. Classes at the school were suspended for the day. The investigation continues.
The attack came five months after two back-to-back school shootings that raised public concerns about security in Turkish schools.
In April, a 14-year-old opened fire at a school in the southern province of Kahramanmaraş, killing a teacher and nine students aged 10 and 11. The attacker died at the scene.
A day earlier, another teenager opened fire at his former high school in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, wounding 16 people before taking his own life when confronted by police.
The attack came a day after Education Minister Yusuf Tekin and Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi signed a protocol setting out security measures for the 2026-2027 academic year, which began on Sept. 14.
Çiftçi said authorities had strengthened school security following the April shootings.
“To ensure such pain is never experienced again, I would like to remind everyone that we must be extremely vigilant this year,” he said.
He said 31,000 school grounds supervisors had been deployed for the first time.
The interior ministry also carried out a fresh security assessment of schools and assigned police officers to first- and second-degree risk schools, where they remain on permanent duty, he said.
Schools classified as lower risk are assigned police liaison officers who work in coordination with school administrations.
Police charged with monitoring security, public order, narcotics and juvenile issues would conduct regular patrols around schools, he said.
Authorities would also inspect school buses and review abandoned buildings near schools under the new measures.
