By DARKO BANDIC, Associated Press
ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — A knife-wielding teenager walked into a school in Croatia’s capital Zagreb on Friday, killing a 7-year-old student and injuring three more children and a teacher, authorities said.
Authorities said the knife attack happened at 9:50 a.m. at the Precko Elementary School in the neighborhood of the same name. They described the attacker as a 19-year-old male and said he had been detained after inflicting injuries to himself.
Croatian Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said one child died while three children and a teacher were injured.
“The attacker is a 19-year-old who is a former student of that school and still lives nearby,” said Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic. “Eventually he started injuring himself. Police prevented him from committing suicide.”
Bozinovic said the attacker was registered as previously having mental health problems and had already tried to kill himself: “It is hard to say this person was mentally balanced.”
Video footage released by Croatian media showed children running away from the school building and a medical helicopter landing in the schoolyard.
Authorities in Zagreb declared Saturday a day or mourning. President Zoran Milanovic said “there are no words to describe the grief over the horrible and unthinkable tragedy that shocked us all today.” MIlanovic called for unity and an effort to ensure that schools are a safe and careless place for children.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said at the a government session that he is “appalled” by the attack and that authorities are still working to determine exactly what happened. 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. Last May, a teenager in neighboring Serbia opened fire at a school in the capital Belgrade, killing nine fellow students and a school guard.
Associated Press writers Jovana Gec and Dusan Stojanovic contributed to this story.
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