13 killed in house-to-house shooting spree in Serbia

The man, identified as Ljubisa Bogdanovic, used a handgun in the shooting spree at five houses in Velika Ivanca, a village 50 kilometres southeast of Belgrade, emergency hospital spokeswoman Nada Macura said.

Twelve people were killed immediately and one person died in a Belgrade hospital, Serbian police chief Milorad Veljovic said. The man and his wife were both severely injured by theshootings and another person was also injured, Macura said.

"Most of the victims were shot while they were asleep," said Veljovic. "The most harrowing scene discovered by police was the dead bodies of a young mother and her two-year-old son." He said the motive for the killings was unclear.

Residents said the man first killed his son and his mother before leaving his house and then began shooting his neighbours. They expressed shock, describing the suspect as a nice quiet man living in one of a dozen modest homes.

"He knocked on the doors and as they were opened he just fired a shot," said resident Radovan Radosavljevic. "He was a good neighbour and anyone would open their doors to him. I don't know what happened."

Milovan Kostadinovic, another neighbour, said the suspect was confronted by police while en route to Kostadinovic's house. "If they didn't stop him, he would have wiped us all out,"" Kostadinovic said. "He shot himself when police stopped him." u00a0 u00a0