The local community in Kahramanmaras, southeastern Turkey, is in shock following a deadly school shooting that claimed nine lives – one adult and eight children – and injured at least 12 others. Among the victims who lost their lives in the bloody attack that occurred on Wednesday (15/04) when a 14-year-old student opened fire indiscriminately in two school classrooms was 56-year-old teacher Ayla Kara, who used her body as a shield to save her students during the massacre. However, the mathematics teacher was killed in her heroic attempt to save the minors.
Turkey school shooting: Names of victims in deadly attack released
According to reports, the perpetrator, a 14-year-old student at the school, entered the school complex with five pistols and seven magazines, using weapons that belonged to his father, a former police officer. The minor then took his own life, while his parents were taken into custody.
The names of the teacher and eight students who lost their lives in the attack have been released as follows: Teacher Ayla Kara (56 years old) and students Mustafa Aslan, Şuranur Sevgi Kazıcı, Zeynep Kılınç, Furkan Sancak Balal (11 years old), Bayram Nabi Şişik (10 years old), Belinay Nur Poyraz (10 years old), Adnan Göktürk Yeşil (11 years old) and Kerem Erdem Güngör.
According to Turkish media, Ayla Kara tried to cover her students with her body when the 14-year-old shooter opened fire inside the building. She was fatally wounded in her attempt to protect them.
Timeline of the Turkey school shooting
Shock prevails in Turkey following the horrific attack at a middle school in Kahramanmaras province on Wednesday afternoon, April 15, when 14-year-old Isa Aras Mersinli entered armed with multiple firearms and ammunition.
Turkey’s Interior Minister stated that the school operated on a double shift system and that the attack occurred during the time when morning shift students were leaving. As he declared, the 14-year-old student entered two classrooms carrying weapons he had brought from home and opened fire indiscriminately. According to him, nine people lost their lives from the gunfire, eight of whom were students and one teacher, while 13 people were injured. Of the wounded, six are hospitalized in intensive care units, with three in critical condition. Emergency services rushed to the scene, evacuating the wounded to nearby hospitals, while security forces cordoned off the area and began investigating the circumstances of the attack.
The father of the minor perpetrator, Ugur Mersinli, who is a former police officer, was arrested.
❗️ School Shooting Leaves At Least One Dead, Multiple Injured in Turkiye’s Kahramanmaras – NTV Citing Local Governor
The armed attacker’s identity has not yet been determined, as per local media.
It marks the second such incident in as many days in Turkiye.
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— RT_India (@RT_India_news) April 15, 2026
