2026 Siverek school shooting
Mass shooting in Turkey
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On 14 April 2026, a school shooting occurred at the Ahmet Koyuncu Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in Siverek, Şanlıurfa Province, Turkey. Sixteen people were injured before the perpetrator, 19-year-old Ömer Ket, committed suicide. Twenty-eight hours after the shooting, another school shooting occurred in the Onikişubat district of Kahramanmaraş.[2]
Siverek, Şanlıurfa Province, Turkey
| 2026 Siverek school shooting | |
|---|---|
The perpetrator loading his shotgun | |
 | |
| Location | 37°45′12″N 39°19′33″E Siverek, Şanlıurfa Province, Turkey |
| Date | 14 April 2026 c.9:30 a.m. (TRT; UTC+3:00) |
Attack type | School shooting, mass shooting, attempted murder-suicide |
| Weapon | Pump action shotgun |
| Deaths | 1 (the perpetrator) |
| Injured | 16 |
| Perpetrator | Ömer Ket[1] |
| Motive | Under investigation |
Background
Turkey's gun laws require licensing, registration, mental and criminal background checks, and severe penalties for illegal possession. Although these laws are strict,[3] the number of illegal guns is estimated to have increased to 25 million, perhaps ten times the legal number.[4][5][6]
School shootings are rare in Turkey, although there are occasional knife attacks.[7] In May 2024, a former student killed the principal of a private high school in Istanbul with a firearm five months after being expelled. He fled after the shooting and was arrested later. The killing triggered a nationwide debate while thousands of teachers demonstrated in Istanbul, calling for increased school safety measures.[3] In March 2026, a biology teacher, Fatma Nur Çelik, was stabbed to death by a 17-year-old student, while another teacher and a student were injured.[8] Çelik had previously raised concerns about the student who would later kill her, he had disciplinary issues, and Çelik told colleagues, "we have no personal safety."[9]
Prior to the shooting in Onikişubat, the deadliest school shooting in modern Turkish history was the 2018 Eskişehir University shooting, in which 37-year-old research assistant Volkan Bayar shot and killed four staff members and injured three other people at Eskişehir Osmangazi University.[10][11]
Shooting
Ket arrived at the school with a shotgun and opened fire outside the building[7] at around 9:30 a.m. local time before hiding inside.[12][13][14] CCTV footage showed Ket walking through a corridor while firing at people.[15][16] An injured student told Turkish Radio and Television Corporation that the gunman entered at least two classrooms, including the one he was in. Once he opened fire, students jumped out of a window.[17] Ket was cornered by police and killed himself with a self-inflicted gunshot.[7]
Victims
Perpetrator
The perpetrator was identified as 19-year-old Ömer Ket, a former student who had attended the school for one year.[7] He had previously been expelled in ninth grade for absenteeism and academic failure, but he continued his education through distance learning.[13][19] He did not have a criminal record. The motive for the shooting is unknown and remains under investigation.[20] After the Forensic Medicine Institute released his body to his family, Ket was buried in Urfa under heavy police guard. His family was placed under state protection and transported from Siverek.[14]
Aftermath
A day after the attack, a 14-year-old opened fire at a middle school in Onikişubat, Kahramanmaras, killing ten people and injuring 12 others before getting stabbed to death, making it the deadliest school shooting in Turkish history.[2] On the same day, a teenager opened fire at a student outside of a high school in Gaziantep. Five shots were fired, but nobody was injured.[21] A high school student in Tarsus, Mersin, was also taken into custody after being caught with a handgun at school.[22]