7-year-old boy dead, others injured after stabbing attack at Croatian school – National
A knife-wielding teenager entered a school in the Croatian capital on Friday and stabbed a 7-year-old girl to death, injuring three other children and their teacher.
The attack happened around 9:50 a.m. on the last day of school before Christmas at the Precko elementary school in the neighborhood of the same name in Zagreb. Children from 7 to 15 years old study in the school.
“The 19-year-old attacker is a former student of that school and still lives nearby,” Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said. “Eventually he started to injure himself. The police prevented his suicide.”
Bozinovic said the attacker had mental health problems and had tried to kill himself before.
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“It is difficult to say that this man is mentally balanced,” he said.
“Five people have been hospitalized and their lives are not in danger,” Health Minister Irena Hrstic told the media. This figure includes the suspected attacker.
School attacks are rare in Croatia and the Balkans as a whole, although in May 2023 a teenager in neighboring Serbia opened fire on the school nine fellow students and a school guard were killed in the capital Belgrade.
Videos released by Croatian media on Friday showed children running from the school building and a medical helicopter landing in the school yard.
Authorities in Croatia declared Saturday a day of mourning and canceled some Christmas celebrations. The candidates who will take part in the upcoming presidential elections said that they have temporarily suspended their campaigns due to the tragedy.
“There are no words to describe the grief over the terrible and unimaginable tragedy that has shaken us all today,” said President Zoran Milanovic.
Milanovic called for unity and efforts to ensure that schools are a safe and carefree place for children.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic told a government meeting that he was “horrified” by the attack and that authorities were still working to determine what happened.
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Associated Press writers Jovana Gec and Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade, Serbia contributed to this story.
– With a file from Reuters
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