Massacre in Croatia: Killer had money and alcohol problems

(ANSA) - ZAGABRIA, 23 LUG - 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. (ANSA).