
ANKARA, Turkey — A research assistant shot and killed four staff members at a university in central Turkey, the university’s president said Thursday.
Professor Hasan Gonen of Osmangazi University, in the city of Eskisehir, some 155 miles west of Ankara, told reporters that the gunman shot and killed a deputy dean, a secretary, and two teaching staff at the university’s school of education.
The attacker, identified as Volkan Bayar, was apprehended by police as he left the scene, Gonen said.
Gonen said the motive of the attack appeared to be a personal dispute. The main target was the education school’s dean, who was not in his office when the gunman arrived, the university president said.
He said the suspect, who was studying for a doctoral degree, had been under investigation at the university for accusing a number of staff members of being followers of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey blames for a failed coup in 2016.
ASSOCIATED PRESS