Croatia: At Least Six Killed in Shooting at Care Home

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Facts

  • At least six people were killed, and several more were injured in a shooting at a care home for the elderly in Croatia on Monday.1
  • The shooting took place in the town of Daruvar, about 75 miles (120 km), around 10 am local time. The private care home reportedly houses around 20 residents.2
  • Five of the victims died on the scene, while a sixth died at the hospital. The victims include five residents and one staff member. Croatia's Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said that most of the victims were in their 90s.3
  • The gunman, who is reportedly a relative of one of the home's residents, fled the scene of the shooting but was apprehended soon after at a nearby cafe. The motive of the shooting is still under investigation.2
  • Police officials say that the suspect used an unregistered firearm in the shooting. Local news has reported that the suspect was also a former policeman who took part in the 1991-95 war in Croatia.3
  • Following the shooting, Croatia's President Zoran Milanovic called for rules on gun ownership to be 'even more rigorous.' Mass shootings are rare in Croatia, and Monday's shooting is among the deadliest since the country declared independence in 1991.4

Sources: 1Guardian, 2Sky News, 3CBS and 4BBC News.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Al Jazeera. This horrific attack should serve as a wake-up call to the issues of gun violence in Croatia. More needs to be done to regulate gun ownership in the country so violence like this can't happen again. Many unregistered guns, like the one used in the shooting, remain from the wars in the 1990s. This should be a warning that more rigorous gun control laws need to be put into place.
  • Narrative B, as provided by Euronews. Mass shootings, like this one, are very rare in Croatia. This attack is unprecedented, and it's too early to draw larger conclusions. While people can speculate, the motive of this attack is still unknown, and more answers to this tragedy will not be available until the investigation is concluded and the attacker is brought to justice.