A seven-year-old girl was killed and at least five other students and a teacher were injured in a knife attack at a school in the Croatian capital Zagreb on Friday, police said. The local hospital said the injured teacher had suffered life-threatening injuries, Reuters reported.
Officials said the attack took place at Precko Elementary School in the neighborhood of the same name at 9:50 a.m. local time. They described the attacker as a “young man” and said he had been detained.
The Croatian Interior Ministry said the attacker was 19 years old. Local media reported that the attacker was a former student of the school and showed video footage of children running from the school building and of a medical helicopter landing in the school yard.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said he was “shocked” by the attack and that authorities were still trying to determine what exactly happened. He said several children were taken to different hospitals in Zagreb.
State television reported that the attacker went straight into the first classroom he found after entering the school, where he attacked the students and their teacher.
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Attacks on schools 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 security guard.
