A 19-year-old delivering a late pizza ends up shot dead on a terrace in Drniš; within hours, the killing has Croatia grieving, raging—and asking how a known killer was ever free again.

On Saturday, May 16, high-school senior and weekend delivery worker Luka Milovac climbed the stairs to Kristijan Aleksić’s home to hand over an order. Moments after Aleksić opened the door and urged, “Come in, come in,” he allegedly raised a firearm and fired, sending Luka crashing to the floor, according to the friend who accompanied him and fled to raise the alarm.¹

The suspect vanished into the night, triggering an intensive manhunt of “hundreds of police officers, as well as police dogs, drones, [and] helicopters.”¹ For nearly 30 hours he dodged capture, reportedly sprinkling pepper to confuse tracking dogs and stocking up the night before on pâté, canned meat, fish, and cola after pointedly asking a shopworker whether the cameras were recording.² Police finally cornered him at the entrance to Drniš, just 300 meters from the murder scene, “with a firearm and a knife,” using a drone to locate him.³

Then came the second shock: this was “the monster from Drniš” who “in 1994, killed a girl (22) with 17 stab wounds” and had already “served time for murder.”⁴⁵ That earlier victim, 22‑year‑old hospital worker Marijana Sučević, was ambushed on a dark road and found with 17 knife wounds and her skull smashed with rebar; “they couldn’t catch him for 7 years.”⁶

As Drniš declared a day of mourning, Luka’s mother chose to bury him in the suit he had bought for his prom, which was supposed to be just days away.¹⁷ Teachers and townspeople described him as a “phenomenal child, endlessly dear and good,” while a grieving driving instructor condemned the system, “bitter at the institutions,” for leaving at liberty a man who had killed before, been caught with weapons in 2023, and was widely feared in the town.¹ Pro‑government media, usually eager to celebrate police efficiency, now frame the arrest as too little, too late—another brutal murder that should never have been possible.