Girl, seven, dead and four wounded in knife attack at Croatian school, say police
20 December 2024, 15:04
Police described the attacker as a ‘young male’ and said he had been detained.
A seven-year-old girl has died and a teacher and three other students were wounded in a knife attack at a school in Croatia’s capital, police said.
They said the attack happened at 9.50am at the Precko Elementary School in the neighbourhood of the same name in Zagreb on Friday.
They described the attacker as a “young male” and said he had been detained.
Health minister Irena Hristic said the attacker was over 18, while media reported that he was 19.
Video footage published by Croatian media showed children running away from the school building and a medical helicopter landing in the schoolyard.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said at the start of the government session that he is “appalled” by the attack and that authorities are still working to determine exactly what happened.
Mr Plenkovic said several children have been taken to various hospitals in Zagreb.
State HRT television said the attacker entered the school and went straight into the first classroom he found and attacked the children.
School attacks are rare in Croatia and in the Balkans as a whole, although in May 2023, a teenager in neighbouring Serbia opened fire at a school in the capital, Belgrade, killing nine fellow students and a school guard.
Authorities in Croatia declared Saturday a day of mourning and cancelled some of the Christmas festivities.
Candidates for the upcoming presidential election said they were temporarily suspending their campaigns because of the tragedy.
President Zoran Milanovic said “there are no words to describe the grief over the horrible and unthinkable tragedy that shocked us all today”.
