In Gradacac – a small town in the northeast of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), nine days ago an unprecedented event took place. Namely, Nermin Sulejmanovic, in the most brutal way, completely cold-bloodedly, killed three people, wounded the same number of people, and eventually committed suicide.
The local “kabadahija” that everyone knew
The police already knew who Sulejmanovic really was, and the citizens you meet in Gradacac will mostly tell you the same in a low voice. In a completely vernacular way, he was a local “kabadahija” (an Ottoman Turkish term describing a somewhat violent person) who radiated fear and trembling on the city streets, conceited and convinced that no one could do anything to him, while timid and fearful citizens bypassed him.
Sulejmanovic was also known to the police, and he was in private contact with some of them. Exactly how many such people there were will be shown by the investigation, which the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Tuzla Canton (TC) refers to, and one of them is already known for sure, and she is under suspension from her workplace because an exemplary police officer could never be in contact with a criminal.
Chronology of events
Sulejmanovic started his brutal crime on Friday, August 11th, 2023, after 9 a.m., when he knocked on the door of the family house of Nizama’s aunt, where the unfortunate woman was hiding. After that, together with their nine-month-old baby, he illegally deprived them of their freedom, and he began to beat her. In those moments, a relative, a policeman, tried to save Nizama, whom Sulejmanovic wounded. After they left, the police were called, and it took them 21 minutes to arrive at the location. That is, it took them 21 minutes to cover a distance of between two and three kilometers.
Around 10 a.m., it is assumed that Sulejmanovic arrived with Nizama and their daughter at the cottage located in the Sibovac settlement. There he continued his act of execution. He brutally beat her and then killed her with a single shot from a pistol. Calmly and cold-bloodedly, he recorded everything with a mobile phone and then posted the video on the social media Instagram. He told the viewers: “Now you will watch a murder live.”
After the murder, Sulejmanovic left Nizama in the yard of the cottage. He called a friend, whom he told to save the child, explaining what he had done and where he was. He then got into the car and headed to the center of Gradacac. He passes through the city at lightning speed and then stops. In a Volvo car, he finds Denis Onder, who he shoots twice in the head through the closed window of the car. Denis is alive, but after arriving at the hospital, he loses the battle.
Sulejmanovic continues his bloody campaign by finding Denis’s father, Djengiz Onder, whom he also kills with a gunshot. Then he goes to their family home, where he finds Harisa Onder, who, again with a gunshot, inflicts life-threatening injuries in the chest area.
Causing fear among the citizens of Gradacac, while the police chase him unsuccessfully, he stops at a gas station where he fills up his car. After that, he heads to a farm outside Gradacac, where he reports live via Instagram around 1 p.m. In a few minutes, he calmly explains what he has done up to that point, stressing that he plans to continue with the murders. He says that he “warned” that something like this would happen. At that time, approximately 15 thousand people watched the broadcast, while hundreds of people supported it in the comments.
After speaking, he goes to his car and turns off the live broadcast. At the same time, information appears that the police have located him, and the final outcome becomes uncertain.
Realizing that the police surrounded him, Sulejmanovic committed suicide by shooting himself in his car around 1:50 p.m.
