Serbia’s School Shooting Parents Sentenced in Retrial
Belgrade’s courts handed out jail terms to the parents of the 13‑year‑old who fired 66 bullets, killing ten people, in a rare mass‑gun attack that shook Serbia in May 2023.
The child first entered custody following a conviction that he was below the age of criminal responsibility and had been placed in a psychiatric institution. However, in a heavy‑hearted ruling by the court of appeal in November 2025, the prosecution’s evidence against the boy’s parents was deemed unclear and contradictory, prompting a retrial to address the matter in full.
On 20 March, the judge concluded that the father, Vladimir Kecmanović, had aided his son’s access to two handguns stored in a safe and failed to keep them secure, while the mother, Miljana Kecmanović, had neglected to protect her son’s mental well‑being. Vladimir received a 14‑year‑and‑six‑month prison sentence and Miljana was sentenced to two years and eleven months.
Both parents and the prosecution have filed appeals, and the case remains pending in the higher courts.
The incident, the second killing in Serbia in two days that month, prompted massive rallies, a gun amnesty rally, and prompt tightening of gun‑control statutes. Citizens demanded stricter enforcement of storage laws and more robust support for youth mental‑health, as a response to the community trauma.
By focusing on community resilience – protecting children from the risk of weapon misuse and ensuring that mental‐health concerns are addressed early – the Belgrade case has raised the bar for how safer societies are built. The legal and policy reforms that followed demonstrate a practical application of sustainable community‑planning principles: prevent harm, safeguard well‑being, and ensure accountability.
