(SeaPRwire) –   According to official statements, a former student opened fire with a shotgun inside a high school in Turkey on Tuesday, injuring at least 16 people before turning the gun on himself. 

The 18-year-old attacker, who targeted the vocational high school in Siverek in southeastern Turkey, died by suicide with the shotgun after he was “cornered by police”, Governor Hasan Sildak said. 

Footage recorded at the scene captured students running out of the school building as law enforcement and emergency responders arrived at the site. 

The attack left 10 students, four teachers, a canteen staff member and one police officer wounded, Sildak confirmed. He added that five of the injured students and teachers were transferred to a hospital in the provincial capital because their conditions were more severe.

The motive for the shooting remains unclear, and the attacker had no previous criminal record, Sildak said.  

He further added that the school had long been considered safe, so no permanent police officer was assigned to guard it, and he described the shooting as an “isolated incident.” 

Reuters reports that Sildak told NTV the attacker started shooting indiscriminately, opening fire first in the school yard before entering the school building.

One student told the state-run Anadolu Agency that he and a friend jumped out of their classroom window to escape the gunman. 

“He came into the classroom suddenly and opened fire. He shot four or five times, and two people were hit. Then he moved on to the next classroom,” Anadolu quoted Omer Furkan Sayar as saying. “We first threw ourselves to the ground, then the two of us jumped out of the window.” 

“He did not say anything, he walked in and started shooting right away,” Sayar added.

“Through police intervention, the individual was cornered inside the building and died after shooting himself,” Sildak told reporters, adding that a “comprehensive” investigation into the attack will be launched.