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The number of people arrested in the investigation launched on the incident where a 16-year-old killed two police officers in western Izmir province has reached 27, the Izmir public prosecutor’s office said late Monday.
The suspects were detained by teams from the Provincial Police Department’s Counterterrorism Branch.
In addition to the perpetrator of the attack, 16-year-old E.B., who was apprehended with injuries, his mother A.B., his father N.B., and two friends A.K. and D.Ş., as well as Iranian national K.N. (32) in Istanbul, B.Y. and C.T. in Ankara and M.A. in Şanlıurfa, were also detained as part of the investigation.
The assailant was reportedly radicalized, according to Turkish media reports. The pump-action shotgun he used to attack the police officers was his father’s.
The attacker, E.B., was shot in the leg and captured wounded.
Izmir Governor Süleyman Elban, who visited the police station after the attack, said: “The attack was carried out by someone who was an 11th-grade high school student. He has no criminal record, has never before been detained for any crime.”
Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç stated: “The Izmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office immediately launched a judicial investigation and two deputy chief public prosecutors and six public prosecutors have been assigned.”
The assailant was living in the same neighborhood as the police station. His father said that his son showed radical behavior recently, spending a long time on the phone and computer.
Besides the two police officers who lost their lives, another two officers and a civilian were wounded in the attack in the Balçova district of Izmir, Türkiye’s third largest city, Elban said.
The assailant first shot and killed a police officer who was standing guard in front of the station. The second victim was a police chief inspector who was killed in an ensuing clash, Elban said.
The incident sent shockwaves across the country with messages of condolences pouring from Cabinet members, officials and politicians.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed accountability on Monday.
The attack also brought back debates about child criminals. Increasing criminal acts carried out by children under the age of 18 have led to discussions on how to prevent a further rise, and children being used by criminal gangs, as they receive lighter sentences when involved in crimes.
Most recently, Tunç said that the Justice Ministry is working on a regulation regarding children drawn into crime with the consultation of academicians, judges and prosecutors.
“It is necessary that all factors, such as the way the crime was committed, the tendency to commit crime, the danger of that crime disrupting public order, and the resulting damage, are considered. There is a need for a gradual reduction in sentences based on age for children in the 15-18 age group who commit similar serious crimes, such as deliberate homicide, femicide and sexual abuse, which particularly arouse public outrage,” the minister said.
The issue has been under the spotlight, especially after the murder of Ahmet Minguzzi, a 14-year-old boy who was stabbed to death in Istanbul in January by two boys aged 15 and 16. The boy’s family is campaigning for harsher sentences for perpetrators known as “children pushed to crime,” as underage offenders are described under Turkish laws. Tunç said they were working on several proposals to amend the rules to accommodate the public demand for harsher sentences.
