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Investigators found that the 14-year-old student who killed a teacher and eight classmates at Ayser Calik Middle School in Kahramanmaras on Wednesday had used an image referencing U.S. mass shooter Elliot Rodger as his WhatsApp profile photo.
The attacker's father, a first-class police commissioner and chief inspector, was arrested after admitting he had taken his son to a police firing range just two days before the attack.
Prosecutors found a document dated April 11 on the attacker's computer indicating he had planned a "major action in the near term."
The General Directorate of Security announced that in initial examinations, the attacker's WhatsApp profile was found to feature an image referencing Elliot Rodger, the U.S. gunman who killed six people in Isla Vista, California in May 2014, after posting misogynistic "revenge" videos online and distributing a 141-page manifesto.
Rodger has become a reference figure in incel-linked online communities globally.
Prosecutors from the Kahramanmaras Chief Public Prosecutor's Office said a document found on the attacker's computer and dated April 11, 2026, indicated he planned to carry out a major action in the near term.
Digital materials seized from the attacker's home and from his father's vehicle are under examination.
Prosecutors confirmed the attack had no terrorism connection: "Based on current evidence, no terror link has been identified and the preliminary assessment is that this was an individual attack," the statement said.
The father, identified as first-class police commissioner and chief inspector Ugur Mersinli, was arrested and his testimony revealed a troubling sequence of events in the days before the attack.
Mersinli said his son had shown no interest in weapons until approximately one month before the attack, when the son began asking to shoot after seeing friends' videos of target practice.
About one month before the attack, Mersinli also caught his son attempting to pick up one of his firearms left briefly on a dresser and reprimanded him.
In his testimony, Mersinli said he told his son he would give him one of his guns upon retirement as a way of "postponing his enthusiasm for weapons."
He also said his son responded: "In America, everyone can buy a gun."
On Monday, two days before the attack, Mersinli took his son to the police firing range.
"I fired my own weapon, and let my son fire a few rounds. I showed him the target, told him a firearm isn't used randomly, but aimed at a target. I took a few photos and videos of him while he was shooting, my intention was to create a keepsake and dampen his enthusiasm. I then sent the photos to him via WhatsApp," Mersinli said.
He said police later informed him that his son had shown those photos to friends, who were reportedly stunned.
Mersinli said he had taken his son to police psychologists due to typical adolescent exam stress, but they found nothing alarming and said the boy was "very intelligent."
He then took the boy to a private psychologist for approximately two months.
That psychologist said the boy "would experience problems integrating with society, needed monitoring, and might require psychiatric treatment in the future."
The last appointment had been three weeks before the attack, and the son had been avoiding further visits. Mersinli said his son used his computer and phone in English and played online war games while speaking English, which Mersinli could not understand.
The son refused to share device passwords and closed everything when his father entered his room.
"He had his own VPN. He spoke English like a native. He was very intelligent," Mersinli said, adding, "In eight years of schooling, he managed only three years in school, part of his education fell during the pandemic, part during the earthquake."
The attacker brought five of his father's seven licensed handguns to school in a backpack. The weapons and loaded magazines were kept in a self-locking traditional box in the bedroom.
Mersinli said he did not know how his son learned to open the box: "He may have learned it from the internet."
Prosecutors said five handguns were recovered at the scene and are undergoing forensic examination.
Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci confirmed the death toll rose to nine, one teacher and eight students.
A further 13 students were wounded, six in intensive care with three in critical condition.
The attacker, who was in the eighth grade, also died from a self-inflicted gunshot.
Elliot Rodger killed six people and wounded many others in Isla Vista, California, in May 2014 before dying by suicide. He had uploaded a "revenge" video to YouTube and distributed a 141-page manifesto.
He is closely associated with incel ideology, a misogynistic online subculture whose adherents describe themselves as "involuntarily celibate" and which has been linked to multiple mass attacks globally.
Canada was the first country to formally classify a killing as an incel attack in 2023.
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