Three teachers killed in Bosnia school shooting

The alleged perpetrator is believed to be a former employee of the school.

At least three teachers at a school in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been killed during a meeting after a gunman, suspected to be the school’s former janitor, opened fire in the building with an automatic rifle.
Reports state that the shooting took place at the Sanski Most Gymnasium secondary school in northwest Bosnia at about 10:15 local time. Another person was reportedly seriously injured in the attack and taken to hospital.
The deceased have been identified as school director Nijaz Halilović, English teacher Gordana Midžan and secretary Nisveta Kljunić, according to local reports, and police investigations are ongoing.
Regional N1 television reported that the alleged suspect, named Mehemed Vukalić, had a dispute with the school management. It said he opened fire at the school’s director and other employees before attempting to kill himself, but he is expected to recover from a self-inflicted chest wound after he was taken to hospital.
No other details were immediately available. Bosnian schools are closed for the summer holiday, which means no classes were being held at the time of the shooting.
The Balkan region has been awash with small arms and weapons since the 1990s wars, part of the breakup of Yugoslavia. According to a 2010 study by the United Nations Development Programme, there were about 750,000 weapons in illegal possession in Bosnia.
Last month, a veteran entered a care home for older people in a quiet central town in Croatia and opened fire, killing six people and wounding six others.
Last May in Serbia, a teenager opened fire at a school with his father’s guns, killing nine children and a school guard, while a day later a 20-year-old shooter killed nine people and wounded 12 in a rampage outside Belgrade, the capital.