A 60-year-old man has gunned down 13 people, including a baby, in a house-to-house rampage in a quiet village before trying to kill himself and his wife, police and hospital officials say.
Belgrade emergency hospital spokeswoman Nada Macura said the man, identified only as Ljubisa B., used a handgun in the shooting spree at five houses on Tuesday.
The dead included six women. Residents of the village of Velika Ivanca, 50 kilometres southeast of Belgrade, described the suspect as a nice and quiet man.
They said he first killed his son before leaving the house and shooting his neighbours, some of whom were still asleep. "He knocked on the doors, and as they were opened he just fired a shot," said local villager Radovan Radosavljevic.
"He was a good neighbour and anyone would open their doors to him. I don't know what happened."
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Serbian police chief Milorad Veljovic said 12 people were killed on the spot, while one person died in a Belgrade hospital. Veljovic said the motive for the killings was not clear, but said the suspect lost his job last year, and fought as a Serb soldier in the war in Croatia in 1992.
Although such apparently random shootings are rare in Serbia, weapons are readily available mostly from the war in the Balkans in the 1990s and there is a tradition of possessing firearms.
Initial reports said the suspect had a licence for the handgun used in the shootings.
"We are all caught by surprise," Veljovic told reporters. "Most of the victims were shot while asleep."
Macura said that the man finally shot himself and his wife, who both were severely injured. Another person was also injured. The man had no history of mental illness, Macura added.
Police blocked off the village while they investigated.
