Behind yesterday's massacre at
the nursing home in Croatia, where six people were killed and
another five injured in Daruvar, Slavonia, lies the killer's
precarious financial situation, exacerbated by his consumption
of alcohol and psychotropic drugs. This is what emerges from
reports in the Croatian press, citing various informed sources
about the massacre, the second deadliest mass killing in
Croatia's history, following a 1993 shooting that left nine
dead.
Krešimir Pahoki, a 51-year-old retired military police
officer, was arrested yesterday morning immediately after the
shooting at a bar not far from the nursing home. The man, who
did not resist arrest, had with him the gun he had just used to
kill an employee of the facility, four elderly women - including
his own mother - and fatally wound a fifth woman, who died a few
hours later in the hospital. Before heading to the nursing home,
he told acquaintances at the bar that he had to "take care of
something," indicating premeditation. His primary target was his
mother, the first of his six victims. He had an unhealthy
relationship with her and rarely visited her, only going to pay
the nursing home's bills.
According to the press, his mother's stay in the small
private facility - which housed about twenty elderly women - was
paid monthly from her modest pension, which did not cover all
the costs. Pahoki had to add several hundred euros from his own
pension, which was about 800 euros. This month, he had not yet
paid his mother's bill and had been repeatedly reminded to do so
by the nursing home. This was not the first time, and it seems
that to resolve the situation, his mother had expressed her
intention to gift a modest house she owned to the nursing home -
a house where the killer lived.
Additionally, Pahoki had long-standing alcohol problems and
used psychotropic drugs. He was known to the police for violent
behavior while intoxicated. The last incident occurred a month
ago when he was detained after a bar fight with an acquaintance,
which ended with a gun pointed at the victim's head. Some media
outlets also point to indirect responsibility on the part of the
police, who, when intervening in that case, did not find or
seize the weapon - the same one used in yesterday's shooting -
which Pahoki possessed without a gun license.
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