Police early yesterday arrested a gunman who killed nine people in a shooting spree in eastern Serbia.
Nikola Radosavljevic, 38, was arrested at the local cemetery several hours after the shooting in the village of Jabukovac, near the border with Bulgaria, the police said in a statement.
There was no immediate explanation as to why Radosavljevic opened fire at his fellow villagers, killing nine people -- four women and five men -- and seriously wounding two.
The victims were all passers-by who happened to be in the street when Radosavljevic randomly opened fire after a row with his wife, the police statement said. He used a hunting rifle.
Radosavljevic recently had returned from Austria, where he works, to his native Jabukovac.
Serbian Interior Minister Dragan Jocic said during a visit to the scene that the Jabukovac shooting may be the first random killing ever to occur in the Balkan republic.
Jocic said "there could be no rational explanation" for such an act.
Police had dispatched special units and helicopters to search for the gunman, who ran away after the shooting. Police sealed off the village while frightened residents locked themselves inside their homes, Serbian media said.
It was not clear why Radosavljevic went to the graveyard where he was eventually found.
State television reported that the victims included a 15-year-old.
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