The suspect in yesterday's mass shooting at a nursing home in Croatia has been charged with 11 counts, including murder, the Associated Press reported. The suspect is accused of killing six people, including his own mother, and injuring as many more, Croatian police said, quoted by BTA.
The killing rocked Daruvar, a resort town of 8,500 in eastern Croatia, and shocked the EU-member country, where such shootings are rare despite many weapons left over from the war in the 1990s.
“A 51-year-old man entered a nursing home in Daruvar where he opened fire with the intention of killing multiple people, the police said. The statement also stated that he had “committed 11 criminal acts” including femicide, murder and attempted murder.
„It was a sleepless night, we are all shocked,” said Damir Lnenicek, mayor of Daruvar.
Wednesday has been declared a day of mourning in the city in memory of the victims – five residents of the home and one employee in it.
Motive details remain sketchy. Police said the suspect was a former combatant from the 1991-1995 conflict. Croatian media reported he was angry over money problems, including the cost of the nursing home where his mother had been for 10 years.
Many Croatian veterans suffer from war trauma, and suicide rates among ex-combatants have been high for years in the post-war period. More than 10,000 people died in the war, which broke out after Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.
The shooting suspect was taken into custody in the regional center of Bielovar, nearly 60 kilometers from the capital Zagreb, officials and media said.
The shooting was discovered shortly after 10 a.m. local time (11 a.m. Bulgarian time) yesterday. Five people died on the spot while one person died in hospital later.
The gunman left the nursing home after the shooting and went to a nearby bar, where he was arrested.
Photos released by Croatian media today showed a black flag hanging from the nursing home - a small house with a nice garden, now riddled with bullets. The remaining occupants of the home were relocated after the shooting.
Doctors at the nearby hospital, where the injured were admitted, said that they are in a stable condition and have been given psychological help. The victims are in their 80s and 90s, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said.
The shooting also raised questions about gun control in a country where many people kept their guns after the war ended in 1995. Croatia became a member of the EU in 2013.
The police informed that the suspect also had previous offenses for disturbing the public order and domestic violence, but they did not involve a weapon. He used an unregistered weapon, officials said.
In two mass killings last year in neighboring Serbia, including at a primary school, 19 people were killed and 18 others injured.
In connection with the murder in Daruvar, Croatian President Zoran Milanovic emphasized the problem of illegal possession of weapons and called for stricter legal restrictions on the possession of weapons, HINA reported, citing a press release by Milanovic.
" It's not typical for an ordinary citizen to have a weapon," Milanovic said.
According to the Croatian president, the man was heavily armed and many people in Daruvar knew about it. Milanovic said his weapon should have been confiscated.
„This shows how important not only regulation but also enforcement of gun control laws are,” Milanovic added. He noted that the responsibility for the prevention and implementation of the law rests with the police.