At least eight people were killed and 13 wounded in a mass shooting that took place near Belgrade, the second such incident in Serbia in less than two days, officials said on May 5, as President Aleksandar Vucic proposed measures that he said amounted to "a practical disarmament" of Serbian civilians.
A 21-year-old suspect, identified only as U.B., was arrested after an hourslong manhunt near the city of Kragujevac, in central Serbia, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on May 5, without giving a motive for the shooting.
"The suspect U.B., born in 2002, has been caught near the city of Kragujevac. He is suspected of killing eight people and wounding 14 overnight," the ministry said, adding that an investigation had been opened.
"The police are working to shed light on all the facts and circumstances of this incident," the statement added.
The shooting took place late on May 4 in the villages of Dubona, Malo Orasje, and Sepsin near Mlademovac, some 40 kilometers south of the capital, authorities said.
Serbian Health Minister Danica Grujicic said all 13 wounded have serious injuries. They are now stable, but their lives are still in danger, Grujicic said.
The Health Ministry, which had issued an appeal to citizens to donate blood after the first mass shooting the previous day, said the response was overwhelming.
"In two days, almost 1,400 fellow citizens donated blood, which is a really great response," Mirjana Knezevic of the Institute for Blood Transfusion told RFE/RL.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic speaks in Belgrade on May 5: "This is an attack on the whole country and every citizen feels it."
State broadcaster RTS reported the suspect began shooting at people in Dubona after an apparent argument with a policeman late on May 4 in the courtyard of a local school.
The suspect left and returned with an automatic rifle, shooting randomly from a moving vehicle and killing at least eight people.
Dubona resident Slobodan Nikolic told RFE/RL he had heard bursts of gunfire from his house overnight.
"Suddenly, a gunfire burst was heard. The first burst was a long one. He must have fired 25 bullets. The second burst came about a minute later, and then a third one. After that, the car drove down the street. Someone shouted: 'Call the police, the guy is lying dead.'"
Zvonko Mladenovic, also from Dubona, said he had heard the shots but did not realize what had happened until he turned on the television in the morning.
"When I walked out, it was a disaster. I knew the victims. They were young kids. When I heard, I was shocked. First those children in Belgrade [were shot], now here. I'm speechless," Mladenovic said.
The incident came less than 48 hours after a 13-year-old is suspected of shooting dead eight children and a security guard and wounding seven on May 3 at a school in Belgrade.
Serbia is currently observing a three-day mourning period for the victims of the May 3 shooting that has sent shock waves through the country and prompted Vucic and his government to announce an extensive revision of existing private guns permits and other measures.
SEE ALSO: Serbia Announces Extensive Gun Controls In Wake Of Belgrade School ShootingIn an address to the nation on May 5, Vucic said the latest incident was "a terrorist attack" and vowed tough gun-control steps that will amount to what he said was a "practical disarmament" of the country.
"This is an attack on the whole country and every citizen feels it," Vucic said.
He said the suspect was apprehended in the house of a relative after he had hijacked a cab, whose driver then tipped off police.
The suspect had a Kalashnikov assault rifle, four grenades, and a lot of ammunition, officials said.
Vucic said that all of Serbia's 400,000 gun owners will undergo an audit, with the exception of the owners of hunting weapons.
Vucic also said he had forwarded a proposal to Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and her government that the death penalty be reinstated, but said his proposal was rejected.
Serbia abolished capital punishment in 2002. The abolition of capital punishment is also a requirement for accession into the European Union, which Serbia is a candidate to join.
Serbia already has tough gun-control legislation in place, but the country is awash in weapons left over from the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
Vucic said gun owners needed to go through more thorough and frequent psychological checks.
He also announced that Serbia would hire 1,200 additional police officers to step up security in Serbian schools.
"We have 331 schools in Belgrade and there will be 331 school police officers in them," he said.
EU foreign policy chied Josep Borell told the people of Serbia that the EU stands by them and shares their pain.
"This is a shocking, terrible tragedy -- we feel the pain and stand with the people of Serbia in these difficult moments," Borrell wrote on Twitter.
The latest incident is not the first of its kind to have happened in the Mladenovac area of Serbia.
In April 2013, army veteran Ljubisa Bogdanovic killed 13 people in the village of Velika Ivanca near Mladenovac, in the deadliest mass shooting in Serbia.