January 31, 2021 – The Sibenik police issued a statement about the quadruple murder and suicide yesterday in Vodice and Šibenik.
The area of Šibenik and Vodice was shaken by four murders yesterday, and later in the day, the perpetrator of the murders was also found dead. Here we bring a statement from the Šibenik police about the fourfold murder.
"At 12:56 pm, the Šibenik-Knin Police Department received a report that a dead man had been found in a vehicle next to the road in Vodice. Investigations established that it was a 47-year-old man who was found in a car with multiple gunshot wounds on the body.
At 1:23 pm, police received a report from the Emergency Medical Service of finding three dead people, two men and a woman, in a facility on the South Highway. During the investigation, it was determined that they were a 42-year-old man, 62-year-old man, and 61-year-old woman, who, as determined, died a violent death and had gunshot wounds on their bodies.
Considering the collected information, a search for the possible perpetrator was announced, and the public was informed that a gray Škoda Karoq vehicle, registration number ŠI-959-HF, was wanted. The entire operational staff of the Šibenik Police, together with the Zadar and Split-Dalmatia Police Directorates, established checkpoints at the entrances/exits to detect and locate the perpetrator.
During the investigation at both places where the dead bodies were found, led by the Deputy County State's Attorney from Šibenik, at 6:22 pm, we received a report that a personal vehicle was found in the Vodice area, as well as the dead body of a 57-year-old suspect.
The dead bodies of all persons were transported to the Pathology Department of the General Hospital in Šibenik for an autopsy and to determine the cause of death. The used vehicles were transferred to the Police Administration, where inspection activities will be carried out during the day.
Also, during the day, police officers will perform some additional measures and actions to connect all the events that preceded the commission of criminal offenses, after which it will be determined what the motive of the perpetrator was," reads the statement from the Šibenik police.
The police will inform the public about all the new information at a press conference tomorrow.
Although the Šibenik police did not reveal the victims' nor the murderer's identities, Croatian media soon found out who they were.
Jutarnji.hr reports that a well-known Šibenik businessman was first killed in his car in front of the "Djelo" shopping center in Vodice at around 1 pm. The entrepreneur, allegedly killed by a burst from an automatic rifle, was the head of the entire "Djelo" retail chain, one of the largest in the county and Dalmatia and Croatia, a member of the national "Ultra" chain.
Then three more dead bodies were found in Ražine, in the basement of the former Matkol bakery. It was soon learned that those three people were the director of Sabirač company, a well-known Šibenik bankruptcy trustee and HDZ city councilor, and her husband, who happened to be at the scene of the murder, allegedly driving his wife to a pre-arranged meeting.
It soon turned out that the perpetrator, who was eventually found dead next to the car in which he fled to the police, was also a well-known Šibenik businessman. He failed in his bakery business, and his company, which he had been building all his life, went bankrupt before the great crisis of 2008.