Four shot dead at university in Turkey
April 5, 2018
A staff member shot four fellow employees dead and injured three others at a central university in Turkey on Thursday, according to Turkish media reports and the university's president.
The attacker, identified as Volkan Bayar, fatally shot a deputy dean, a secretary and two teaching staff whom he saw as supporters of Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in exile.
Police have arrested Bayar, a research fellow in the education faculty at Osmangazi University in the city of Eskisehir, some 250 kilometers west of Ankara, Anadalou Agency said.
The university's president, Hasan Gonen, told Turkish media the attacker entered the education faculty with a gun and shot the staff members, before surrendering to police.
Attacker already under investigation
Gonen said he suspected the motive for the attack was a personal conflict, and his main target appeared to be the deputy dean, who was not in his office when the gunman arrived.
Bayar was under investigation by the university after he verbally attacked several staffers, accusing them of supporting Gulen.
"This person had claimed that some members of the university were members of FETO, and he had made similar claims (previously) in court," Gonen said.
The Turkish government blames Gulen for the failed attempt to topple President Tayyip Erdogan in 2016, in which more than 250 people were killed. Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, has denied any involvement.
One Osmangazi University professor told Turkish media they planned to file a criminal complaint to higher education authorities about the university's alleged failure to take action over complaints about the attacker.
"Who will pay the price for protecting him now?" Ayse Aypay asked.
cs/ng (AFP, Reuters, DPA)