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Gunman attacks Croatian aged care facility killing six and wounding several others

An investigator in a white overall looks at a car as people mill around the scene which is blocked by police tape

Police and forensics gather near the crime scene in Daruvar, central Croatia. (Zeljko Puhovski/Cropix via AP)

In short:

A gunman is in police custody after allegedly attacking an aged care facility in Croatia, shooting dead six people.

Croatia's president called the shooting a "frightening warning" and said it should spur the country's "competent institutions" to do more to prevent violence in society.

What's next?

Police are yet to determine a motive for the shooting.

A gunman has entered an aged care facility in central Croatia and opened fire, killing six people and wounding six others.

Croatia's police chief, Nikola Milina, said five people died immediately while one more person died in a hospital. 

The suspect fled the scene, but the police caught him in a cafe near the facility in the town of Daruvar, he said.

The victims were five residents of the care home and one employee.

"We are appalled by the murder of five people in the Home for the Elderly in Daruvar," Croatia's prime minister, Andrej Plenkovic, wrote on X.

"We express our condolences to the families of the victims and hope for the recovery of the wounded."

Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said he was "shocked" by "the savage, unprecedented crime".

"It is a frightening warning and a last call to all competent institutions to do more to prevent violence in society, including even more rigorous control of gun ownership," he said.

Police said they received reports shortly after 10am on Monday, local time, that a man had shot and killed several people at the aged care home, including his own mother.

The man is now "under police supervision", they added.

Quiet town left stunned and grieving

The attack has left Daruvar, a quiet spa town with a population of just 8,500, stunned and grieving.

The town's mayor, Damir Lnenicek, told European cable news channel N1 that everyone was shocked by the murder.

"What is the cause, the trigger, it is difficult to say; that will be determined by the investigation," Mr Lnenicek said.

Relatives of the residents gathered outside the modest one-story house to inquire about their loved ones.

A police officer stands behind police tape on a quiet European street as people talk nearby.

Police stand guard outside the aged care facility in Daruvar, Croatia after the shooting. (AFP: Nikola Blazekovic)

"We have my mom here, she is 90," Nina Samot told Nova TV.

"This is horrific what has happened, this is such a small town. Especially when you have someone inside.

"We are waiting, we are all in shock. The whole town is in shock."

Authorities say they are yet to determine the motive behind the attack.

Initial media reports stated the shooter was a veteran of the 1991-95 Croatian War of Independence, though this could not be independently verified.

Police officials said that the assailant used an unregistered gun. 

There are many weapons kept in private homes in Croatia after the bloody break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

AP