Man detained 30 days over shooting near Smederevo school

A court in Smederevo ordered up to 30 days of detention on July 15 for U. R. (24), suspected of firing a gas pistol at a group of minors in the yard of a primary school in Smederevo. The case is being handled by the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Smederevo. The suspect faces charges of causing general danger, together with a count of minor bodily injury.

The attack took place on July 13, according to the prosecution’s account. In the school yard, the suspect first had a verbal and then a physical confrontation with several minors. He then went home, took a gas pistol loaded with metal pellets and returned to the same spot. He fired several pellets towards the minors and struck one of them in the hand. The injured youth is 17 years old.

The prosecution says the suspect then went home again and left the pistol there. When he returned towards the school yard, he spotted a police patrol and tried to flee, first on an electric scooter and then on foot, at which point officers arrested him. A search of the family house recovered a gas pistol with a magazine holding 11 metal pellets.

The identity of the injured minor has not been released, in line with the law. The suspect is presumed innocent until a final verdict.

Why is the court ordering a mental fitness evaluation?

Questioned by prosecutors, the suspect denied committing the offences he is charged with. The prosecution then requested an evaluation of his mental fitness, and the court accepted that request.

Such an evaluation is not a formality, and it does not prejudge the outcome. It assesses whether the suspect, at the time of the offence, was able to understand the significance of his act and to control his conduct. The expert findings may confirm full responsibility, but they may also establish substantially diminished or excluded responsibility. That finding determines whether the case moves towards an indictment and trial, or towards a request for a security measure.

Prosecutors typically make this request when the circumstances of an offence call for a professional review of a person’s mental state. A court grants it when it concludes it cannot rule on guilt without expert findings. At this stage, it is an investigative step, not an assessment of responsibility.

What 30 days of detention means

Detention is not a punishment. It is a measure to secure the defendant’s presence and the unimpeded conduct of proceedings, imposed for a limited period and subject to review. Thirty days is the statutory maximum at this stage. The defence may appeal the detention order, and prosecutors may seek an extension if they find the grounds still stand.

The next steps depend on the expert findings and on the evidence gathered. During this period, prosecutors collect statements, physical evidence and expert reports, and only then decide whether to file an indictment. Until that point, the legal classification of the offence remains open to change, because it rests on suspicion rather than on established facts.

What lifts this case beyond routine crime reporting is the location. The confrontation happened in the yard of a primary school, and the suspect, according to the prosecution’s account, went home for a weapon and came back. The interval between the confrontation and the shooting will be one of the key elements prosecutors weigh.

Do you think cases like this call for a different level of security at school yards outside teaching hours?