Turkey school shooting: Eight students and one teacher killed at Kahramanmaras middle school

A 14-year-old eighth-grade student opened fire inside a middle school in the southern Turkish province of Kahramanmaras on Wednesday, 15 April 2026, killing nine people and wounding 13 others. The attack, carried out at the Ayser Calik Secondary School in the Onikisubat district of Kahramanmaras, was the second school shooting in Turkey within two consecutive days and prompted an immediate response from senior government officials up to and including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci confirmed nine deaths and 13 wounded, with six of the injured in intensive care, three of whom were in critical condition. The victims comprised eight students and one teacher. Four of the wounded were undergoing surgery at the time of the governor’s initial statement.

How did the Kahramanmaras school shooting unfold on 15 April 2026?

The attacker was an eighth-grade student and the son of a former police officer. He arrived at the Ayser Calik Secondary School in Kahramanmaras carrying five guns and seven magazines concealed in a backpack. Kahramanmaras provincial governor Mukerrem Unluer told reporters that the student entered two classrooms and opened fire at random. The governor stated that the weapons were believed to have belonged to the student’s father. The attacker subsequently died at the scene, though Governor Unluer said it remained unclear whether the death was a deliberate act of suicide or occurred amid the chaotic circumstances of the attack.

The attacker was identified as 14-year-old Isa Aras Mersinli, who was enrolled as an eighth-grade student at the school. His father was described as a former police officer. Police detained the shooter’s father, identified by the official Anadolu news agency as Ugur Mersinli, following the attack.

Footage verified by Agence France-Presse, filmed from a nearby building, showed students jumping from a first-floor window of the school to escape the gunfire, while dozens of others fled through the courtyard. Approximately 15 gunshots were audible in the recording. Witnesses cited by Turkish media described the gunfire as intense. The footage was widely circulated domestically and internationally.

What was the Turkish government’s institutional response to the Kahramanmaras school shooting?

Justice Minister Akin Gurlek confirmed that the local prosecutor’s office had launched an immediate investigation into the Kahramanmaras shooting. Police increased security deployments around the school building. The Turkish Justice Ministry subsequently announced a broadcast ban on coverage of the shooting, stating the restriction was imposed for the integrity of the investigation. Seven prosecutors were assigned to the case.

Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci, National Education Minister Yusuf Tekin, and Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu declared their intention to travel to Kahramanmaras to manage the government’s response and provide assistance to affected families.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, addressing the Justice and Development Party group in the Turkish Grand National Assembly, stated that those found to have been negligent or at fault in connection with the school shootings would be held accountable. Erdogan confirmed that police had detained one suspect in connection with the previous day’s attack in Sanliurfa province and that four officials had been suspended from duty. The school involved in the Tuesday shooting was ordered closed for four days.

Republican People’s Party spokesperson Zeynel Emre proposed the deployment of 65,000 specialised sergeants as security personnel across schools throughout Turkey, reflecting opposition-party concern about the adequacy of existing security arrangements at Turkish educational institutions.

What happened in Turkey’s first school shooting in Sanliurfa on 14 April 2026?

The Kahramanmaras attack on Wednesday followed a separate and distinct incident the previous day, on Tuesday, 14 April 2026. A former student opened fire with a shotgun at a vocational high school in the Siverek district of Sanliurfa province in southern Turkey, wounding 16 people including students, teachers, a canteen employee, and a police officer, before killing himself in a confrontation with police. Sanliurfa Governor Hasan Sildak confirmed that the attacker, an 18-year-old with no prior criminal record, died after being cornered by police inside the building. The motive for the Siverek attack had not been established at the time of reporting.

Why are two school shootings in Turkey within 48 hours significant given the country’s strict gun laws?

School shootings are described as rare in Turkey. The country’s gun laws require licensing, registration, and mental and criminal background checks, with severe penalties applying to illegal possession of firearms. The most recent comparable incident prior to this week occurred in May 2024, when a former student killed a private high school principal in Istanbul, five months after being expelled.

The occurrence of two separate school shootings within a 24-hour period therefore represented a significant and historically unusual development in Turkey’s public safety record. The Kahramanmaras incident carried particular institutional significance given that the weapons used were legally registered firearms belonging to a former law enforcement officer. The attacker accessed those weapons from within his own household, raising direct questions about the obligations of licensed firearms holders regarding safeguarding, storage, and access restrictions under Turkish law, particularly in households with minors.

The Turkish Justice Ministry’s imposition of a broadcast ban on coverage of the Kahramanmaras shooting was notable in that it restricted domestic and international media from reporting on the event while the investigation remained in its early stages. Schools in Kahramanmaras were ordered closed for two days following the attack. The decision by multiple cabinet ministers to travel personally to Kahramanmaras indicated the level of institutional and political concern generated by the incident.

What the Kahramanmaras and Sanliurfa school shootings mean for Turkey’s public safety and gun law frameworks

• A 14-year-old student killed nine people and wounded 13 at the Ayser Calik Secondary School in Kahramanmaras on 15 April 2026, using firearms believed to belong to his father, a former police officer, who was subsequently detained by police.
• The Kahramanmaras shooting was the second school shooting in Turkey within two days, following a separate incident on 14 April 2026 in Siverek, Sanliurfa province, in which a former student wounded 16 people before killing himself.
• President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged accountability for those found negligent, while Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci, National Education Minister Yusuf Tekin, and Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu travelled to Kahramanmaras to oversee the response.
• The Turkish Justice Ministry imposed a broadcast ban on coverage of the Kahramanmaras shooting citing investigative integrity, and seven prosecutors were assigned to the case.
• Both incidents are exceptional in the context of Turkey’s strict gun licensing regime and historically low rate of school violence, and have prompted calls from the opposition Republican People’s Party for the deployment of dedicated security personnel at schools nationwide.