Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has called for a "practical disarmament" of his country after the second deadly mass shooting in two days, flagging an array of measures to improve gun control and bolster security in schools.
He suggested a moratorium on gun permits, regardless of the type of weapon, as well as more frequent medical and psychological checks of gun owners.
The government will also hire 1,200 new police officers to improve security in Serbia's schools, Mr Vučić said.
Mr Vučić's announcement of the measures came as Serbian police confirmed they had arrested a gunman suspected of killing eight people and wounding 13 others in a shooting at the village of Dubona, a village near the town of Mladenovac, about 42 kilometres south of Belgrade.
Police had been searching for the 21-year-old suspect throughout Thursday night, local time, after he allegedly fled the scene of the shooting.
Serbian public broadcaster RTS reported the suspect had been arrested in Grošnica, near Kragujevac, about 100 kilometres south of where the attacks occurred.
The attacker allegedly used an automatic weapon to shoot randomly at people in Mladenovac, RTS reported.
Serbian Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic called the shooting "a terrorist act".
'Why did he go to neighbouring villages?'
During the search, hundreds of police sealed off an area south of Belgrade where the shooting took place.
"I heard some tak-tak-tak sounds," recalled Milan Prokic, a resident of Dubona.
Mr Prokic said he first thought villagers were shooting to celebrate a childbirth, as is tradition in Serbia and the Balkans.
"But it wasn't that. Shame, great shame," Mr Prokic added.
"They say the kid killed them for no reason. They say there was an argument here at the centre of the village, he went home, took his arms and came back to kill them."
Mr Prokic said he didn't believe this: "If it were true, why did he go to neighbouring villages to kill?"
Another Dubona villager also said he heard gunshots late last night and came out of his home.
"I [smelt] gunpowder. I heard noise from the direction of school. We saw people lying on the ground," said the man, who refused to give his name because he feared for his safety.
On Wednesday in Belgrade, a 13-year-old boy used his father's guns in a school shooting rampage that killed eight of his schoolmates and a school guard.
The bloodshed sent shock waves through the Balkan nation, unused to such mass murders.
Tributes paid to victims of Belgrade shooting
Dozens of Serbian students, many wearing black and carrying flowers, paid silent homage on Thursday to peers killed a day earlier.
The students filled the streets around the school in central Belgrade as they streamed in from all over the city.
Earlier, thousands had lined up to lay flowers, light candles and leave toys to commemorate the eight children and a school guard who were killed on Wednesday morning.
People cried and hugged outside the school as they stood in front of heaps of flowers, small teddy bears and soccer balls.
A grey-and-pink toy elephant was placed beside the school fence, along with messages of grief, and a girl's ballet shoes hung from the fence.
The Balkan nation is struggling to come to terms with what has happened.
Although awash with weapons left over from the wars of the 1990s, mass shootings still have been extremely rare — and this is the first school shooting in Serbia's modern history.
The tragedy also sparked a debate about the general state of the nation after decades of crises and conflicts, whose aftermath has created a state of permanent insecurity and instability, along with deep political divisions.
Authorities on Thursday moved to boost gun control, as police urged citizens to lock up their guns and keep them safe, away from children.
Police have said that the teen used his father's guns to carry out the attack.
He had planned it for a month, drew sketches of classrooms and made lists of the children he planned to kill, police said on Wednesday.
The boy — who had visited shooting ranges with his father and apparently had the code to his father's safe — took two guns from the safe where they were stored, together with the bullets, police said on Wednesday.
"The Ministry of Interior is appealing to all gun owners to store their guns with care, locked up in safes or closets so they are out of reach of others, particularly children," police said in a statement that also announced tightened controls on gun owners in the future.
Wednesday morning's shooting in the Vladislav Ribnikar primary school also left seven people hospitalised: six children and a teacher.
One girl, who was shot in the head, remains in a life-threatening condition, and a boy is in serious condition with spinal injuries, doctors said on Thursday morning.
To help people deal with the tragedy, authorities announced they were setting up a helpline. Hundreds answered a call to donate blood for the wounded victims.
A three-day mourning period began on Friday morning.
Serbian teachers' unions announced protests and strikes to demand changes and warn about a crisis in the school system.
Authorities shrugged off responsibility, with some officials blaming Western influence rather than a deep social crisis in the country.
The school shooter — whom police identified as Kosta Kecmanovic — has not given any motive for his actions.
Gun culture is widespread in Serbia and elsewhere in the Balkans: The region is among the top in Europe in the number of guns per capita.
Guns are often fired into the air at celebrations and the cult of the warrior is part of national identity.
Still, the last mass shooting prior to this year was in 2013 when a war veteran killed 13 people in a central Serbian village.
Experts have repeatedly warned of the danger posed by the number of weapons in a highly divided country like Serbia, where convicted war criminals are glorified and violence against minority groups often goes unpunished.
They also note that decades of instability stemming from the conflicts of the 1990s as well as ongoing economic hardship could trigger such outbursts.
"We have had too much violence for too long," psychologist Zarko Trebjesanin told N1 television. "Children copy models. We need to eliminate negative models … and create a different system of values."
