Dragoslav Petkovic

Timeline

• 29 April 2002 — 17-year-old Dragoslav Petkovic opened fire with a handgun shortly after noon at his high school in Vlasenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina, killed one teacher, wounded another, and then took his own life.
• 30 April 2002 — Reports on the shooting and suicide were published.

Background

Dragoslav Petkovic was a 17-year-old Bosnian Serb student. He was in the 11th grade. The incident took place at a high school in Vlasenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Vlasenica was described as an impoverished town about 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Sarajevo.

The offence

Shortly after noon on 29 April 2002, Dragoslav Petkovic walked into the schoolyard and killed a history teacher, Stanimir Reljic, using a 7.65-millimeter handgun. He then burst into a classroom, called out to the teacher Saveta Mojsilovic, and fired, grazing her neck. Petkovic then shot himself in the mouth and died.

A later description said Petkovic approached a professor standing outside the school and shot him in the head, then entered a school on the first floor and shot math teacher Saveta Mojsilovic.

Investigation

Police cordoned off the school with plastic tape, and students were sent home for the day. Investigators had no motive for the shooting. A police investigation was under way.

It was reported that Petkovic left a letter that contained instructions about how he wanted to be buried, without anything about his motives.

Weapons were described as easy to obtain in Bosnia, although their possession was illegal without permission of local authorities and peacekeepers. It was also reported that thousands of guns, as well as mortars, mines and hand-grenades, remained in people's possession after the war. A weapons-collection program had been in place, including an operation called Harvest in which people could turn in weapons to the NATO-led peace force. Nearly 4,000 small arms and over a million rounds of ammunition were gathered during 2001 in the same operation. The weapons-collection program began in 1998.

Death and suicide

Petkovic shot himself on the same day as the school shooting. A witness account stated that after shooting Saveta Mojsilovic, Petkovic raised the gun to his head and shot himself.

Petkovic’s suicide note included:

"I'm begging my mother to forgive me, and I'm thankful to her for everything she has given me. I'm thankful to my father for all the good advice and to my older brother for the help he always gave me,"

The letter also stated he asked to be buried in Vlasenica and that his belongings be distributed among his six best friends. The letter concluded with:

"People learn from their mistakes."

People

• Dragoslav Petkovic (17) — school shooter; 11th-grade student; history teacher and math teacher were shot, and Petkovic died by suicide.
• Stanimir Reljic (53) — history teacher; was killed.
• Saveta Mojsilovic (50) — math teacher; was wounded.
• Rodoljub Vidakovic — duty police officer; gave a quoted description of the shooting:

  "He approached the professor who was standing outside the school and shot him in the head,"

• Ognjen Markovic (17) — Petkovic’s best friend; said they played basketball the night before the shooting and discussed the history teacher:

  ''We also talked, and he complained that the history teacher hated him and might not let him pass at the end of the year,"

• Dragomir Zugic — school principal; described Petkovic as "quiet and sensitive," and said the boy might have been influenced by the Erfurt shooting.
• Ostoja Dragutinovic — mayor of Vlasenica; described Petkovic’s perceived characteristics and quoted a view of him:

  "According to the teachers of the school and other residents who knew him, the student who committed this murder was never perceived as a person who was capable of doing such a thing," "He was quiet and not such a bad student."

• Zoran Glusac — Bosnian Serb Interior Ministry spokesman; identified the shooter only by initials in one report as "D.P."

  The boy was in the 11th grade.

• Ognjen Markovic — also described that the two played basketball the night before the shooting.

Other details

It was reported that the shooting happened three days after an expelled student in Erfurt, Germany killed 16 people and then himself. The shooting was described as the second in Europe within days, and as the first of its kind ever in Bosnia. The government appealed to parents and teachers to teach children about violence and prevent another tragedy.

Students witnessed the incident and reported details to the school principal, including that Petkovic turned to leave, raised the gun to his head, and shot himself. Mojsilovic was taken to a local hospital with "surface injuries to the right side of her neck," which were reported as not life-threatening.

It was reported that a Bosnian Serb radio reported Petkovic used a 7.65-mm handgun, and that he shot Reljic in the head and Mojsilovic in the neck, with her injuries not appearing to be life-threatening.