The general director of the Slovenian police force Marjan Fank made a statement on Thursday’s killing of a police officer on active duty. He presented several new facts connected with the incident that sent shock ways through the Slovenian police. The suspect in the killing of a 30-year-old police officer in the border town of Žejno was, as had previously been reported, a 22-year-old citizen of Germany.

How did he find himself in the town? According to Fank, he had been denied entry into Croatia. On Tuesday, June 28, he was aboard a bus headed for Croatia. At 11:55 p.m., he was tuned back at the border because he lacked the required documents. After being turned back, he had apparently wandered along the border between the two countries.

Representatives from the German police informed their Slovenian colleagues that the 22-year-old was mentally ill with suicidal tendencies and was addicted to illicit drugs. There was no information about a criminal record, but it was known that his problems had led him to run away from home on several occasions. There were never any arrests warrants issued for him, but family members had reported him as missing on several occasions, Fank added.

As he was walking along the border, the man wandered into the town of Žejno, where he had asked locals for work – in a foreign language -- despite being barefoot not carrying any personal belongings. When he was stopped by a police patrol who attempted to identify him, he attacked police officer Damir Golobič, and after running for just 100 meters, he ended his own life by stabbing himself in the chest.

“We are unable to find an explanation that either we – or even more importantly, the family of the deceased – could understand or accept,” Fank added.