Vlasenica school shooting

The perpetrator, 17-year-old Dragomir Petkovic, was born on 1985 in Vlasenica and was of Bosnian Serb descent.^{[citation needed]} The principal described him as a "quiet and sensitive" boy.^[6]

The day before the shooting, while playing basketball, Petkovic told his best friend, 17-year-old Ognjen Markovic that Reljic, the murdered teacher, disliked him and Petkovic feared he would not give him a passing grade. Witnesses said Petkovic approached Reljic outside the school and asked him for another chance to improve his grades. When the teacher refused, he opened fire.^{[citation needed]}

"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," said Ostoja Dragutinovic, the mayor of Vlasenica. "He was quiet and not such a bad student." Dragomir Zugic, the school principal, described Petkovic as "quiet and sensitive," and said the boy might have been influenced by the Erfurt school massacre.^{[citation needed]}

"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 suicidal teen wrote in a letter he left behind in his room. In the note, he asked to be buried in Vlasenica and that his belongings be distributed among his six best friends. The letter concluded: "People learn from their mistakes."^{[citation needed]}

In a suicide note, the student, a Serb, explained how he wanted to be buried but did not say whether he sought revenge in the attack, or whether the German killings had influenced him, the authorities said.^{[citation needed]}

Bosnian Serb radio reported that the gunman, whom it identified as Dragoslav Petkovic, used a 7.65-mm handgun and that he had shot Reljic in the head and Mojsilovic in the neck. The radio report said her injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.^{[citation needed]}

Police cordoned off the school with plastic tape, and students were sent home for the day.^{[citation needed]}

Investigators had no motive for the shooting, the first of its kind ever in Bosnia.^[4]