A gunman opened fire at a Croatian nursing home, killing at least six people and sparking calls for tighter gun controls in the Balkan country.
A man entered a nursing home in the eastern town of Daruvar and started shooting, killing five people, including a nursing home employee, a government minister said.
Police said several people were injured and one died in hospital. Four people remain in critical condition.
The suspect fled the scene after the attack and was later arrested in a cafe and was found with an unregistered firearm, Croatian media reported.
Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said he was shocked by the “barbaric and unprecedented” mass shootings and called for “tighter” rules on gun ownership.
“This is a dire warning and a final call for all authorities to do more to prevent violence in society,” President Milanovic wrote in a social media post.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic called it a “terrible attack” and expressed his condolences to those affected.
Croatian authorities gave no motive for the massacre.
Marin Piletic, Croatia’s Minister of Labour, Pensions, Family and Social Policy, said the suspect’s mother had lived in the nursing home for 10 years.
Unconfirmed reports in local media said the man was a war veteran.
Croatian national police chief Nikola Milina said he had a previous record of public disorder and domestic violence.
The killing shocked the 7,000 residents of the quiet spa town of Daroval.
Mayor Damir Lnenicek told Croatian broadcaster N1: “It is difficult for me to understand that this can happen in our town, in our country.”
Mr. Lnenicek said about 20 people were living in the nursing home at the time of the shooting.
Mass shootings in Croatia are rare.
Monday’s massacre was one of the worst in the country’s history since it declared independence in 1991.
According to the 2017 Small Arms Survey, Croatia has 13.2 firearms per 100 people, ranking 25th in Europe for gun ownership.
Last year, two mass shootings occurred in neighboring Serbia, killing more than 18 people. Leading many Serbs to hand over thousands of registered and unregistered weapons as part of a government amnesty.
