The man arrested after staging a second mass shooting in Serbia took a pregnant woman hostage in a taxi but did not kill her because he had run out of bullets.
Initially, Uros Blazic, 21, allegedly carried out the killings in his own car, a Mercedes, at different locations and then for the last attack in a busy town centre, he reportedly abandoned his car and took a taxi driver hostage together with his pregnant passenger.
He then told the taxi driver that he had a bomb, forcing the driver to take him to his parents’ home in Vinjiste, where it is believed he also lived, near Kragujevac.
The property has been described as a small cottage located in Vinjiste, which is a village in the municipality of Stanovo, one of five city municipalities which make up the City of Kragujevac.
Blazic was eventually arrested this morning shortly after 8am near Kragujevac after allegedly carrying out a mass shooting in villages near Mladenovac, in Serbia, last night.
Her had apparently started his killing spree in a schoolyard after an argument with people sitting there on benches.
It is believed that the people there were not students, but rather friends of his who had gathered in a convenient spot to celebrate the birth of a child.
Apparently, there was an argument, and he left and returned with the automatic weapons. His friends, who had no idea of his intentions and believed he had come to make up, offered him a beer when he allegedly opened fire on them.
He then apparently got into his own car and stopped near a police station where he got out and continued shooting, before going to the centre of town for the third and final attack.
Various reports say that he shot both from the car and also climbed out especially in the final attack where he dumped his vehicle and kidnapped the taxi driver.
The attack claimed the lives of eight people, with at least 14 others injured, including seven people in hospital in critical condition, triggering a manhunt involving hundreds of police officers.
But by this point Blazic had abandoned his car and kidnapped the taxi driver with the pregnant woman inside, telling them he had a bomb so that they would drive him to the family home.
The mass shooting comes just days after a school shooter killed nine people in the capital Belgrade.
At the time of writing, nine people were reported dead from the school attack.
The villages of Dubona, Malo Orasje and Sepsin were targeted in the new attack, with the suspect allegedly using automatic weapons and at the end kidnapping the taxi driver with the pregnant woman inside.
The youngest victim is said to be 15 years old, and a 21-year-old off-duty police officer, named as Milan Panic and his younger sister are also said to be among the dead.
Uros Blazic, who was arrested some nine hours after the massacre, reportedly has a criminal record related to violations of the country’s laws on firearms and ammunition.
Serbian media said that over 600 law enforcement personnel took part in the manhunt to find the suspect, whose alleged actions have been classed as a terrorist incident.
Other Serbian media reports say that as many as 1,000 police officers took part in the manhunt.
The authorities had set up a number of roadblocks during the night.
The suspect’s home has also been searched, with the authorities reportedly finding a large quantity of weapons and ammunition.
The investigation is ongoing.
