ZAGREB – A gunman entered a nursing home in a quiet Croatian town on Monday and opened fire, killing six people including his mother, officials said. The dead were mostly in their 80s and 90s, the prime minister said.
The national police chief, Nikola Milina, said five people died immediately and another died in a hospital. Five were residents and one was an employee. At least six other people were wounded, four seriously.
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The suspect fled but police caught him in a cafe near the facility in the town of Daruvar, Milina said. Authorities were investigating the motive behind the attack.
N1 regional television reported that the suspect was born in 1973 and was a former policeman who took part in the 1991-95 war in Croatia and was decorated as a war veteran. Officials said he was known to police after causing several incidents in the past.
Officials said the suspect's mother had lived in the nursing home for 10 years.
Daruvar resident Zlatko Sutuga told Nova TV he knew the suspect from the war era. “People say that he was really aggressive, alcohol and all that,” Sutuga said.
The attack left the town stunned and grieving. Daruvar is a spa town in the municipality of Slavonia, with a population of 8,500.
Relatives of residents gathered outside the modest one-story building to inquire about loved ones.
“We have my mom here, she is 90," Nina Samot told Nova TV. "This is horrific what has happened, this is such a small town. Especially when you have someone inside. ... We are waiting, we are all in shock. The whole town is in shock.”
The mayor, Damir Lnenicek, told N1 TV the facility was an excellent one that housed about 20 people.
“What is the cause, the trigger, it is difficult to say," he said. “That will be determined by the investigation.”
Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said he was shocked by the “savage, unprecedented crime.” He added it was ”a last call to all competent institutions to do more to prevent violence in society, including even more rigorous control of gun ownership."
Police officials said the suspect used an unregistered gun. Many weapons are still kept in private homes in Croatia after the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Private gun ownership is legal with a mental health check.
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Associated Press writers Dusan Stojanovic and Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia, contributed to this story.