Sanski Most school shooting

2024 school shooting in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Sanski Most school shooting
Police in the front of the school following the shooting.
Map of Sanski Most
Location	Sanski Most Gymasium, Sanski Most, Una-Sana Canton, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Coordinates	44°46′4″N 16°39′27″E / 44.76778°N 16.65750°E / 44.76778; 16.65750
Date	August 21, 2024 c. 10:15 a.m.
Attack type	School shooting, mass shooting, mass murder, triple murder, attempted suicide
Weapon	Automatic rifle
Deaths	3
Injured	1 (the perpetrator)
Perpetrator	Mehmed Vukalić^[1]
Motive	Under investigation, possibly retaliation for personal disputes

On August 21, 2024, a school shooting occurred inside the Sanski Most Gymnasium,^[2] located in Sanski Most, Bosnia and Herzegovina, when the perpetrator opened fire on three school employees. The shooter was identified as 50-year-old Mehmed Vukalić, a man working as a janitor, armed with an automatic rifle.^[3] After the shooting, he attempted to commit suicide by shooting himself in the chest, but was captured while doing so and taken into medical custody. Vukalić is currently in a non-life-threatening situation, and being held at the University Clinical Center of the Republika Srpska in Banja Luka.^[4] The incident is currently the deadliest school shooting in Bosnian history.

Background

Small arms and weapons have been frequently trafficked in the Balkans since the Yugoslav Wars. Per a 2010 study executed by the United Nations Development Programme, there were around 750,000 illegally owned weapons in Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[2] Mass shootings are a relatively rare occurrence in the Balkans, but they had lately seen a small rise, including the Daruvar shooting in neighboring Croatia and the Mladenovac and Smederevo shootings and Belgrade school shooting, both in neighboring Serbia.^[4]

Some school employees reported that the suspect had entered into disputes with the school management^[2] and was suffering from Post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in the Bosnian War.^[4]

Victims

The deceased victims were identified as:^[2]

Nijaz Halilović, school director
Gordana Midžan, English teacher
Nisveta Kljunić, secretary

References

^ "Ovo je domar koji je ubio direktora, profesorku i sekretaricu u gimnaziji u Sanskom Mostu (Foto)". Nova.rs (in Serbian). 2024-08-21.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Three teachers killed in Bosnia school shooting". euronews. 2024-08-21. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
^ "School employee kills at least 3 people in a Bosnian town, police say". AP News. 2024-08-21. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Three staff killed in shooting in school in Bosnia". SWI swissinfo.ch. 2024-08-21. Retrieved 2024-08-21.

School shootings outside of the United States

Prior to 2000

1910s	Bremen, Germany (20 Jun 1913)
1920s	Waikino, New Zealand (19 Oct 1923) Wilno, Poland (6 May 1925)
1940s	Eccleshall, England (15 Feb 1947)
1960s	Kungälv, Sweden (4 Mar 1961) Dundee, Scotland (1 Nov 1967)
1970s	Sofia, Bulgaria (25 Dec 1974) Brampton, Canada (28 May 1975) Ottawa, Canada (27 Oct 1975)
1980s	Eppstein, Germany (3 Jun 1983) London, England (11 Nov 1987) Higham Ferrers, England (6 Jan 1988) Raumanmeri, Finland (25 Jan 1989) Montreal, Canada (6 Dec 1989)
1990s	Montreal, Canada (25 Aug 1992) Aarhus, Denmark (5 Apr 1994) Meihekou, China (10 Jul 1995) Dunblane, Scotland (13 Mar 1996) Sanaa, Yemen (30 March 1997) Taber, Canada (28 Apr 1999) Valparaíso, Chile (17 Dec 1999)

2000 to present

2000s	Rafael Calzada, Argentina (4 Aug 2000) Erfurt, Germany (26 Apr 2002) Salvador, Brazil (28 Oct 2002) Taiúva, Brazil (28 Jan 2003) Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand (6 Jun 2003) Coburg, Germany (2 Jul 2003) Carmen de Patagones, Argentina (28 Sep 2005) Guangde, China (12 Oct 2005) Montreal, Canada (13 Sep 2006) Emsdetten, Germany (20 Nov 2006) Jokela, Finland (7 Nov 2007) Gurgaon, India (12 Dec 2007) Kiryat Moshe, Israel (6 Mar 2008) Kauhajoki, Finland (23 Sep 2008) Winnenden, Germany (11 Mar 2009) Athens, Greece (10 Apr 2009)
2010s	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (7 Apr 2011) Edmonton, Canada (15 Jun 2012) Moscow, Russia (3 Feb 2014) Barcelona, Spain (20 Apr 2015) La Loche, Canada (22 Jan 2016) Monterrey, Mexico (18 Jan 2017) Goiânia, Brazil (20 Oct 2017) Kerch, Russia (17 Oct 2018) Suzano, Brazil (13 March 2019)
2020s	Torreón, Mexico (10 Jan 2020) Kazan, Russia (11 May 2021) Perm, Russia (20 Sep 2021) Heidelberg, Germany (24 Jan 2022) Veshkayma, Russia (26 Apr 2022) Erbil, Iraq (28 Jun 2022) Quezon City, Philippines (24 July 2022) Izhevsk, Russia (26 Sep 2022) Nong Bua Lamphu, Thailand (6 Oct 2022) Aracruz, Brazil (25 Nov 2022) Epsom, England (5 Feb 2023) Belgrade, Serbia (3 May 2023) Mladenovac and Smederevo, Serbia (4 May 2023) Sapopemba, Brazil (23 Oct 2023) Bryansk, Russia (7 Dec 2023) Prague, Czech Republic (21 Dec 2023) Viertola, Finland (2 Apr 2024) Sanski Most, Bosnia and Herzegovina (21 Aug 2024)