Stipe Majic/Anadolu via Getty Images
A 7-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 life-threatening injuries, Reuters reported.
Officials said the attack happened around 9:50 a.m. local time at Precko Elementary School in the area of the same name. They described the attacker as a “young male” and said he had been detained.
The Croatian Interior Ministry said the attacker was 19 years old. Local media said the attacker was a former student at the school, and showed video footage of children running away from the school building and a medical helicopter landing in the school yard.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said he was “appalled” by the attack, and that authorities are still working to determine exactly what happened. He said that several children were taken to different hospitals in Zagreb.
State television said the attacker went straight into the first classroom he found after entering the school, where he attacked the students and their teacher.
School attacks are rare in Croatia. Last May, a teenager in neighboring Serbia opened fire at a school in the capital Belgrade, killing nine classmates and a school guard.
