# Turkey school shooting death toll rises to 10 after another victim dies
Event date: 2026-04-16
The death toll from Turkey’s second school shooting in two days rose to 10 after another victim died in hospital, authorities said, deepening alarm over violence that has been rare in the country until this week.
AP reports that six of the wounded were in critical condition before the latest death. The shooting in Kahramanmaraş on Wednesday left a teacher and eight students dead, along with the gunman, who was also killed.
The attacker, identified as 14-year-old Isa Aras Mersinli, opened fire on two classrooms at a middle school with five firearms and seven magazines that belonged to his father, a retired police superintendent who was later arrested. That detail alone turned the case into a broader reckoning over access to weapons at home and the responsibilities of family members and institutions that may have missed warning signs.
The day before, 16 people were wounded in a separate shooting at a high school in nearby Şanlıurfa province. AP says 20 people had been detained in connection with that earlier attack, and officials were also examining social media posts linked to the same wave of violence.
Turkey’s police said the profile picture on the suspect’s WhatsApp account was a photo of Elliot Rodger, who killed six people in California in 2014. That detail suggests investigators are exploring possible ideological or imitation influences, though the source excerpt does not support a fuller motive analysis.
The government response has been rapid. The interior and education ministries held a joint school security meeting in Ankara attended by ministers, provincial governors, police chiefs and education directors. The Ministry of Family and Social Services also announced a psychosocial support team for students and families.
Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said 67 social media users were detained over posts targeting 54 different schools, a sign that authorities are trying to contain both the immediate danger and the broader fear that the attacks may inspire copycats.
The shootings have also prompted public protest. Hundreds of educators gathered in Ankara and Izmir to demand better school security. For a country where school shootings have been unusual, the sudden occurrence of two attacks in quick succession is likely to fuel demands for tighter firearm access, stronger monitoring and better safeguards in schools.
The AP report does not resolve every question, but it clearly shows the scale of the shock: a middle-school shooting in Kahramanmaraş, a second fatality from injuries, a father arrested, and a country now scrambling to respond to an event it says had previously been rare.
