The parents of a teenage boy who carried out a tragic mass shooting at Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School in Belgrade, Serbia, in May 2023, have been sentenced to prison. The 13-year-old perpetrator, who cannot be tried due to his age, killed nine children and a security guard during the attack.
On Monday, the boy’s father, Vladimir Kecmanović, was sentenced to 14-and-a-half years in prison. His mother, Miljana Kecmanović, received a three-year sentence. The charges stemmed from accusations that they failed to properly secure their firearms and ammunition, contributing to the attack. Both parents denied the allegations.
The father was found guilty of endangering public safety, teaching his son to shoot, and neglecting a minor. The mother was convicted of neglecting a minor but acquitted of illegally possessing weapons and ammunition.
The boy, identified only as KK, has been held in a psychiatric institution since the attack. He appeared in court in October under special escort, marking his first time outside the facility since the tragedy. Although not on trial, KK was questioned as a witness by the judge, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and families of the victims.
Parents of the murdered children attended the hearings in hopes of gaining insight into the motives behind the horrific act. A lawyer for the victims’ families called it “one of the most harrowing trials I have witnessed in my career.”
Nemanja Marinković, an instructor at the Partizan shooting club where KK learned to handle firearms, was also sentenced to one year and three months in prison for his role in teaching the boy to use a gun.
This case has deeply affected Serbia, already reeling from another mass shooting just days after the school tragedy, in which eight more people were killed by a 21-year-old man in a village near the capital.
After the trial, the family’s lawyer told reporters that KK had led what appeared to be a normal life before the attack, emphasizing that no court could fully uncover the factors behind the devastating event.
