According to reports from media and police, a man from Bosnia was killed before going on a shooting spree. During the incident, he killed two other people and then proceeded to kill his ex-wife while live streaming the slaying on Instagram.
The police in the city of Tuzla stated, “The attack took place in the town of Gradacac in northeastern Bosnia, where the assailant left three people wounded before being apprehended and located before committing suicide.”
The former spouse’s live broadcasted killing startled individuals in the Balkan nation, however, mistreatment towards females is prevalent and Bosnia is still recovering from a violent conflict in the 1990s.
Within the municipality, the individual additionally injured a law enforcement officer, another gentleman, and a lady at different sites. Following the act of taking her life, the prosecutors stated that the individual proceeded to the thoroughfares of Gradacac armed with a handgun, where he proceeded to fatally shoot a gentleman and his offspring.
Nermin Niksic, the prime minister of the Bosnian Federation, expressed, “I am at a loss for words to articulate the events that unfolded today in Gradacac. Unfortunately, no one can restore the lives of the victims as the perpetrator ultimately ended his own life.”
Authorities did not immediately offer possible motives for the shootings. Bosnian media and officials said that the ex-wife of the shooter had reported violence and threats from her former partner in the past. The local media identified the shooter as Nermin Sulejmanovic, a resident of Gradacac, who had a police record.
The video from Instagram was later removed. The video then shows a woman firing a gun into the forehead of a child, as nearby somewhere the cry of the child is heard. On Friday morning, a man posted a video on Instagram, telling viewers that they would see a live murder.
The individual broadcasted two additional videos on Instagram, asserting to have fired at least two additional individuals while evading law enforcement. Approximately 12,000 individuals witnessed the killing in real-time, and the video garnered 126 likes, as confirmed by authorities afterwards.
Killing individuals in 2020 and 2021 consisted of 19 females, Hurtic mentioned. Sevid Hurtic, the Minister of Human Rights in Bosnia, expressed, “This is a significant disgrace for our community.” The population of Bosnia is 3.2 million people.
According to Bosnian media, Sulejmanovic, a 35-year-old bodybuilder and fitness coach, has a history of being arrested for drug smuggling and assaulting a police officer.
Police said that people who wrote supportive messages on the man’s Instagram posts while clicking could possibly face legal consequences and be questioned on Friday.
Ingrid Macdonald, the United Nations’ resident coordinator in Bosnia, was among those expressing surprise at the day’s events.
Macdonald expressed, “Bosnia and Herzegovina, in a series of incidents involving the killing of women and extreme instances of violence based on gender, is one of the most recent countries where a female victim’s murder was broadcasted live through a social network, a fact that deeply shocks the United Nations.”
She vehemently contended that the aggression witnessed on Friday could have been averted and advocated for “urgent cooperative actions” to curb violence directed towards women.
Macdonald urged individuals, civil society, governments, and the international community to join forces in prioritizing the elimination of femicide, and called on the authorities to commit firmly to eradicating this atrocious crime.
Bosnia remains in a state of unrest and ethnic fragmentation, even after many years since a conflict occurred between 1992 and 1995, leading to the loss of more than 100,000 lives and the relocation of millions of people.