Police Chief orders internal probe into whether shooting in Đakovo could have been prevented

Police are still questioning Andrija Drežnjak, the 60-year-old who shot and killed a social worker and wounded a lawyer at the local Social Welfare Center in Đakovo.

The suspect has a criminal record and was in illegal possession of a firearm, police said. He will be remanded to custody. At the same time, police are conducting an internal investigation into their own procedures and conduct to determine if they could have prevented the shooting because social workers had warned them on several occasions that Drežnak’s behavior had become increasingly violent. Drežnjak and his father were known to social workers because the two were under the center’s care.

Police arrested the shooter last night after a manhunt which involved a swat team and a drone. He was caught near the highway, carrying the weapon, some cash, and a passport. Police concluded he was trying to flee.

“A criminal investigation is underway. We are looking into the facts of the case and determining the circumstances under which he was able to obtain a weapon illegally,” said Osijek-Baranja County Police Chief Ladislav Bece on Wednesday.

Bece also said that the General Director of the Police, Nikola Milina, had ordered an internal investigation to determine what officers knew and what steps they took with respect to their communication with social workers at the center.

Social workers across the country came to work dressed in black, to honor their colleague.

“We are all devastated. We just can't find our bearings. We do really work in tough conditions, but none of us ever imagined that something like this could happen, never,” said Dubravka Petrović, the head of the Đakovo Social Welfare Center.

Several hundred social workers protested in front of the Ministry of Demographic, Family, Youth, and Social Welfare to demand better working conditions and better security in the workplace.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Social Welfare Minister Nada Murganić met with representatives of social workers organizations to discuss how to improve the system and tighten security at social welfare centers.

“We really have to step up inter-ministry cooperation so that the social welfare system can truly serve those who are under its protection and that it functions well. It is important that all of the participants are responsive, whether they are in the education system, the health care system, or the social welfare centers. If everyone, especially the trained staff here, have all of the information in a particular case, then they can make risk assessments and determine which steps should be taken,” Plenković said.

Štefica Karačić, the president of Association of Social Workers, said she hoped this tragic event would bring change.

“We expect that this meeting, this situation, and the moment we are in will be a turning point in the way the social work profession is perceived by the public and the way society treats it," she said.

The lawyer who was wounded is in critical condition at Osijek Hospital.