Officers have reported that a janitor opened fire with an automatic weapon at the Sanski Most Gymnasium — a secondary school in the northwest of Bosnia and Herzegovina — on Wednesday, killing at least three, including the school dean, secretary, and an English instructor.
The gun used in the attack, which took place around 10 am local time, has been described as a military-grade automatic weapon. The suspect is currently being treated in a hospital near Banja Luka, having been left in serious condition due to self-inflicted injuries.
The shooting at the secondary school in Sanski Most is a tragic call to action to address the plethora of illegal weapons that have flooded the Balkans since the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. The perpetrator behind this abhorrent act — the types of which have been relatively rare in the West Balkans so far — must also be held accountable to the full extent of the law.
While details on this incident have yet to be confirmed, violent occurrences such as this shine a spotlight on how, decades later, post-war horrors still grip the region. There's no excuse for the perpetrator's horrific crime, but it's undeniable that authorities must address the dearth of resources for veterans. It's time this changes.