In a tragic incident on Wednesday, three staff members at a high school in Sanski Most, a town in western Bosnia, were killed when a school employee opened fire. The shooter, who was later identified as a school janitor, then attempted to take his own life, according to police reports.
The shooting occurred at 10:15 a.m. when the suspect, armed with an automatic rifle, targeted specific individuals within the school. Police spokesman Adnan Beganovic from the Una-Sana canton confirmed that the victims included the school’s dean, a secretary, and a teacher. After the attack, the shooter attempted suicide and was gravely injured. He was immediately transported to the nearby town of Banja Luka for emergency treatment.
An investigation is currently underway to determine the full circumstances surrounding the shooting. The school had not yet reopened after the summer holidays, so no students were present at the time of the incident.
Local media outlet N1 TV, citing witnesses, reported that the shooter had a history of conflicts with the school administration and was undergoing disciplinary proceedings. This claim, however, has not yet been independently verified.
Mass shootings are relatively rare in the Western Balkans, a region still recovering from the conflicts of the 1990s, during which large numbers of weapons remained in private hands. Despite the rarity of such incidents, the region has seen isolated cases of gun violence. In July, a war veteran in neighboring Croatia killed five people, including his mother, in a nursing home and wounded six others.
This tragic event in Sanski Most has shocked the local community and raised concerns about the lingering presence of firearms in the region.
