Suspected gunman in Croatia nursing home killings charged on 11 counts, including murder

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — A suspected gunman in a mass shooting at a nursing home in Croatia is facing 11 criminal charges, including murder, after he was accused of killing six people, including his own mother, and wounding as many more, police said on Tuesday.

The carnage stunned Daruvar, a spa town of some 8,500 people in central Croatia and sent shock waves throughout the European Union country where such shootings have been rare despite many weapons left over from war in the 1990s.

“The 51-year-old walked into the nursing home in Daruvar where he opened fire, with the intent to kill multiple people,” police said in a statement.

The statement said he “committed 11 criminal acts,” including murder and attempted murder. It said the charges also include femicide, which refers to women being killed because of their gender.

Police charges are a first step in the criminal proceedings against a suspect. Prosecutors are yet to open a formal investigation; that would precede filing an indictment that could lead to a trial.

Monday’s shooting raised questions about gun control in a country where many people kept their weapons after the end of country’s 1991-95 war, one of the conflicts unleashed by the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. Croatia became an EU member in 2013.

“The man was illegally armed and a lot of people knew that. That weapon should have been taken away from him,” President Zoran Milanovic, said. “He should have been prevented and stopped.”

The town of Daruvar declared Wednesday a day of mourning for the victims, who were five residents of the nursing home and one employee.

“It’s been a sleepless night, we are all shaken,” Mayor Damir Lnenicek said.

Details about the motive remained sketchy. Police said the suspect is a former fighter from the war. Croatian media reported that he was angry about money problems, including bills for the nursing home where his mother had been living for the past 10 years.

Many Croatian veterans have suffered from war trauma, and suicide rates among former fighters were high for years in the postwar period. More than 10,000 people died in the war that erupted after Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.

The shooting suspect was transferred to detention in the regional center of Bjelovar, some 60 kilometers (40 miles) from the capital Zagreb, officials and media reports said.

The shooting happened shortly after 10 a.m. on Monday. Five people died on the spot while another person died later in a hospital.

The gunman walked out of the nursing home after opening fire and went to a nearby bar where he was arrested.

Photos published on Tuesday by Croatian media showed a black flag hanging outside the nursing home, a small house with a neat garden, now riddled with bullets. The remaining residents have been transferred to another facility.

Doctors at the nearby hospital where the wounded were treated said they were in stable condition on Tuesday and have been offered psychological help. The victims were in their 80s and 90s, Croatia’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has said.

Police have said that the suspected gunman in the past faced complaints of public disorder and domestic violence but they said no weapons were involved. He used an unregistered gun, officials said.

Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said police sent an expert team from the capital, Zagreb, to review police conduct.

Two mass killings last year in neighboring Serbia, including one in an elementary school, left 19 people killed and 18 wounded.

Darko Bandic, The Associated Press