Turkey manhunt ends as shooter takes own life after killing 6: Reports
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The 37-year-old suspect allegedly opened fire in a restaurant in the Turkish city of Mersin, killing its owner and an employee, before fleeing and shooting two other men nearby.
PHOTO: REUTERS
ISTANBUL - A massive manhunt for a gunman who killed six people in southern Turkey ended early on May 19 when he turned the gun on himself after being cornered by police, the IHA news agency reported.
The 37-year-old suspect had fled to a forested area after going on a rampage with a gun near Tarsus, which lies between the southern cities of Mersin and Adana, in which he shot dead six people and wounded another eight.
The Anadolu state news agency said the man had reportedly shot dead his ex-wife before heading out on a murderous spree.
The DHA and IHA news agencies said the suspect opened fire in a restaurant, killing its owner and an employee, before fleeing and shooting dead two other men – one of them a shepherd watching his animals nearby, and the other a truck driver at a petrol station.
It was unclear who the sixth victim was.
The shooter fled with police launching a massive manhunt involving helicopters, which lasted into the early hours of May 19 when they located him inside a house about 10km from where the shootings began.
The suspect turned the gun on himself to avoid being caught, IHA said.
Speaking to the agency from his hospital bed, Mr Mehmet Han Topal, who works at the restaurant where the shootings began and who was wounded in the leg, described what happened.
“He came in without a word... We thought he was getting his telephone out, but he brought out a pistol,” he said.
“I got down. He fired at me.”
In a statement posted on X overnight, the Mersin governor’s office said the incident began just before 2pm (7pm Singapore time) and described the suspect as having had “multiple hospital admissions due to prohibited substance dependency and various psychiatric diagnoses”.
The violence came a month after two shooting attacks by teenagers rocked Turkey, one of which injured 16 people, while the second claimed 10 lives, most of them young schoolchildren.
According to a Turkish NGO, there are tens of millions of firearms held by citizens, most of them without permits. AFP
