Bio

Vinko Palić was born in 1964 in the village of Zrinski Topolovac in Bjelovar-Bilogora County, Croatia. He grew up in that village and was one of several brothers. Two of his brothers were named Zlatko and Nikola.

As an adult, Palić served as a soldier in the 105th Brigade of the Croatian Army during the Croatian War of Independence. He returned from the frontline shortly before the events that later brought him attention. After his service, he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition that authorities were aware of before those events.

People in the village knew some of his habits. He sometimes fired his automatic rifle at random in the village. He was described as hard when he drank and was said to eat glass bottles in a drunken state. When he was not drinking, people remembered him as kind and well mannered.

Murder Story

On 1 January 1993 a mass shooting took place in Zrinski Topolovac, Bjelovar-Bilogora County, Croatia. The event happened at a New Year's Eve party in the clergy house around midnight. Vinko Palić shot and killed nine people and wounded seven others before he committed suicide.

During the party Palić and another man argued over a woman. After the dispute, Palić went home, put on a military uniform, took an automatic rifle and returned to the party.

At the party he shot dead eight guests, including the man he argued with, the woman involved in the dispute, and his brother. He injured six other guests at the event. When police arrived, Palić killed one police deputy and wounded another.

Palić went to the house of one of the deceased women and shouted, "Look and see what I did to your children." He spared the local priest, saying, "You, I won't, you're a priest."

One brother, Zlatko, tried to stop Vinko and Palić told him, "Run, I'll kill you!" Another brother, Nikola, was already dead in the Žun Dvor with a gun beside him. When special forces approached, Palić lay down on the road and shot himself in the head.

Vinko Palić was born in 1964 in Zrinski Topolovac and was a soldier in the 105th Brigade of the Croatian Army. He had returned from the Croatian War of Independence two weeks before the shooting and was reported to have PTSD. Investigators later found another unregistered weapon in his house. He was known to sometimes fire his automatic rifle in the village and to behave badly when drunk, though he was reported to be kind when not drinking.