| Zadar school shooting | |
|---|---|
| Location | Zadar Gymnasium Zadar, Socialist Republic of Croatia |
| Date | 9 October 1972 c. 7:50 a.m. (CET, UTC+01:00) |
| Target | Teachers |
| Attack type | School shooting |
| Weapons | Beretta M70 (7,65 mm) |
| Deaths | 2 |
| Injured | 0 |
| Assailant | Milorad Vulinović |
| Motive | political action |
| Charges | Murder |
On 9 October 1972, a 19-year-old student shot two teachers at a gymnasium in Zadar (current-day Vladimir Nazor Gymnasium), in SR Croatia, at the time in Yugoslavia. One teacher died at the scene, while the other died at a hospital.
Events
On the morning of 9 October 1972 Milorad Vulinović, a 19-year-old student of Serbian descent, arrived at Zadar Gymnasium with intent to kill his history teacher, Vica Vlatković (aged 43). With his father's Beretta M70, the student shot Vlatković and the school's sociology teacher Gojko Matulina (aged 33), who came to deescalate and eventually succumbed to his gunshot wounds in a hospital. Not long after the murder, a teacher from the school met Vulinović on the street and saw him take to the nearby patisserie named Jadran to eat a cremeschnitte, awaiting arrest.
During a police interrogation, Vulinović stated that he hated Vlatković for his sympathies with the Croatian Spring movement. Court psychiatrists found that Vulinović had a "psychopathic personality" with "a tendency towards schizoid psychopathy". He was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Goli otok, which was the most severe sentence intended for young adults in socialist Yugoslavia.
On October 10 a commemoration was held on Zadar's Narodni trg, and on October 11 around ten thousand people gathered in front of Matulina's home to pay respect. A high school library in Zadar bears the names of Vlatković and Matulina. Two highschools in Zadar were also named after them.
Momir Bulatović, future president of Montenegro, and former Croatian actress Jelica Vlajki reportedly witnessed the incident; both were students of Zadar Gymnasium at the time.
See also
References
- ^ "S 19 godina upucao je dvojicu profesora i otišao na - krempite! 'Uzbuđeniji sam bio kad sam ubio dvije grlice!' Poznati Zadrani bili su svjedoci". zadarski.slobodnadalmacija (in Croatian). 2023-05-04. Retrieved 2024-12-21.
- ^ "Zadar, 1972.: Maturant je ubio profesore, pobjegao u slastičarnu, naručio osam vrsta kolača i - limunadu". tportal (in Croatian). 2023-05-04. Retrieved 2024-12-21.
- ^ "U Hrvatskoj se poznato ubojstvo u školi dogodilo 1972., u zadarskoj gimnaziji, kad je učenik iz mržnje ubio dva profesora". zadarski.slobodnadalmacija (in Croatian). 2023-05-03. Retrieved 2024-12-21.
- "Tragedije u našim školama već su se događale: Učenik ubio profesore, djed oca đaka zbog dječje svađe". srednja (in Croatian). 2024-12-21. Retrieved 2024-12-21.
- "Stravičnog događaja 1972. prisjetio se jedan od svjedoka". zadarskitjednik (in Croatian). 2023-05-22. Retrieved 2024-12-21.