The Facts
On Friday, Serbian police — after an overnight manhunt — arrested a suspect who killed at least eight people and critically wounded 14 others in a series of shootings south of Belgrade late on Thursday.
The 21-year-old gunman — identified by the initials UB — reportedly fired an automatic weapon from a moving vehicle in the village of Dubona, killing a police officer, among others. After fleeing from the scene, he is reported to have continued to shoot at civilians in the neighboring villages of Malo Orašje and Šepšin.
The Spin
Narrative A
Decades of armed conflicts have already created a state of permanent insecurity, economic instability, and a highly divided country — which is why Serbia’s strict gun laws are not enough to curb a cultural tradition of owning guns. If guns continue to be part of celebrations, convicted war criminals continue to be glorified, and violence against minority groups continues to go unpunished, mass shootings will, unfortunately, become a norm sooner than later.
Narrative B
Thursday's shooting is a terrorist act, which has sent shockwaves through Serbia — where mass murders are rare, automatic weapons are illegal, and gun licenses are given only to people trained in handling firearms and with no criminal record in the past four years. Until the government addresses the roots of the violence and the authorities offer details about the motive for the shootings, the country must stand together in shared grief.
