Turkey is reeling from its deadliest school shooting in history after a 14-year-old student killed 10 people and wounded 12 others at his middle school in Kahramanmaraş on April 15, 2026.
İsa Aras Mersinli carried five 9mm pistols and seven magazines into Ayser Çalık Middle School in the Onikişubat district at approximately 1:30 p.m. local time. The weapons, concealed in his backpack, all belonged to his father, a police chief inspector.
Mersinli opened fire in a classroom before moving to a second, where he continued his attack. The rampage claimed eight student lives at the scene, along with 55-year-old math teacher Ayla Kara, who died attempting to shield her students from the gunfire. A 10th victim succumbed to injuries while being treated in the hospital the following day, bringing the final death toll to ten.
The victims have been identified as Mustafa Aslan, Şuranur Sevgi Kazıcı, Zeynep Kılınç, Furkan Sancak Balal, Bayram Nabi Şişik, Belinay Nur Boyraz (or Poyraz), Adnan Göktürk Yeşil, Kerem Erdem Güngör, and Yusuf Tarık Gül. An additional 12 people were wounded in the shooting, with six initially listed in critical condition.
Dramatic video footage that emerged after the attack shows students jumping from first-floor windows of the school as gunshots echo across the grounds. Approximately 15 gunshots can be heard in the 90-second recording. Other footage captured desperate students fleeing through the courtyard as panicked parents rushed to the scene.
Two staff members subdued Mersinli in a stairwell, but after he broke free, Necmettin Bekçi, whose two children attended the school, slashed the teenager’s leg with a knife to stop him. The blade inadvertently severed his femoral artery, and Mersinli died from blood loss at the scene. His father, Uğur Mersinli, was arrested the following day and transferred to Elazığ Prison, facing potential charges of gross negligence and failing to secure firearms. On April 21, Justice Minister Akin Gurlek announced that the perpetrator’s mother, Pınar Peyman Mersinli, was also arrested.
School officials had previously flagged Mersinli as a “problem student” who had undergone psychological examinations in recent months. A guidance counselor revealed that the teenager struggled with screen addiction and school attendance. “We were in constant contact with his family. He had a screen addiction. He did not want to come to school. Even when he came, he wanted to leave,” the counselor said.
Turkish police discovered that Mersinli’s WhatsApp profile picture featured Elliot Rodger, a 22-year-old who killed six people near the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2014. “Initial findings from the investigation revealed that the perpetrator used an image on his WhatsApp profile referencing Elliot Rodger, who carried out an attack in the United States in 2014,” police stated.
A manifesto attributed to Mersinli later surfaced online, leaked by an individual claiming to be his online girlfriend from Argentina. The document, which contained racial and sexual slurs that were censored before release, detailed plans for “something big.” Police are analyzing digital media seized from the perpetrator’s home and his father’s vehicle.
The tragedy occurred just 28 hours after another school shooting in Turkey’s Şanlıurfa province, where a former student opened fire with a shotgun at a vocational high school in the Siverek district, wounding 16 people. That gunman later took his own life. By April 17, 20 people had been detained in connection with the Şanlıurfa attack.
Before the April 2026 attacks, school shootings were rare in Turkey, making the back-to-back incidents particularly shocking for the nation. The Turkish government responded swiftly, with the interior and education ministries holding a joint security meeting in Ankara on April 17. On April 19, the Ministry of National Education announced that Erhan Baydur, the Kahramanmaraş Provincial Director of National Education, had been removed from his position. The meeting brought together both ministers, all 81 of Turkey’s provincial governors, police chiefs, and provincial education directors.
In the days following the attacks, Turkish authorities launched a massive crackdown on social media activity. Justice Minister Akin Gurlek announced that 67 social media users were detained over posts targeting 54 different schools. Separately, police ordered arrests for 83 individuals accused of glorifying crime and criminals in posts about the two shootings. On April 23, Turkey’s parliament passed a new law prohibiting social media providers from offering services to children under 15, requiring platforms to implement age verification measures.
Authorities also launched an investigation into “Minecraft Parodileri,” a YouTube channel with over 7.5 million subscribers, on allegations it was a factor in inciting the attack. Access to the channel was subsequently blocked in Turkey.
The Ministry of Family and Social Services established a specialized team to provide psychosocial support to affected students and their families. Schools in Kahramanmaraş were closed for two days following the incident. Ayser Çalık Middle School itself was subsequently closed permanently, with its students relocated to another facility.
Funerals for nine of the victims were held on the afternoon of April 16, drawing hundreds of grieving family members and community members. Cevdet Yesil, father of victim Adnan Göktürk Yeşil, described the agonizing hours spent searching for his son before receiving confirmation of his death at the hospital.
The aunt of the victim, Şuranur Sevgi Kazıcı, learned of her 10-year-old niece’s death when the girl’s name was read aloud on television news. Another victim, Zeynep Kılınç, was remembered by her uncle, Mahmut, as a clever girl who respected others.
Hundreds of educators gathered in Ankara and Izmir, demanding enhanced school security measures, as the nation grapples with preventing future tragedies. Police have stated that, based on initial findings, no link to terrorism has been established, describing the attack as an isolated act.