Mesarovic, Vucevic lay wreaths in Dubona to mark third anniversary of deadly shooting

DUBONA - Serbian Deputy PM and Minister of Economy Adrijana Mesarovic and Serbian Progressive Party leader Milos Vucevic, who is also adviser to the president of Serbia, laid wreaths and lit candles in a schoolyard in the Dubona village near Mladenovac, where three young people were murdered in a shooting spree three years ago.

The families and relatives of the victims, as well as their friends and other residents laid wreaths and flowers and a memorial service was also held.

On May 4, 2023, Uros Blazic killed brother and sister Milan and Kristina Panic, aged 22 and 19, and Dalibor Todorovic, 24, in Dubona.

Flowers and wreaths were also laid in nearby Malo Orasje, where, on the same day, Blazic fatally shot Nikola Milic, 14, Aleksandar Milovanovic, 17, Marko Mitrovic, 18, Lazar Milovanovic, 19, Nemanja Stevanovic, 21, and Petar Mitrovic, 25, who died 50 days after the crime.

In the Dubona/Malo Orasje shooting spree, Blazic, who was armed with an automatic rifle, killed nine young people and seriously wounded 12 others.

On September 19, 2024, the Serbian government established May 3-4 as days of remembrance for the victims of the deadly mass shootings at the Vladislav Ribnikar primary school in Belgrade - which took place on May 3, 2023 - and in Orasje and Dubona.

Blazic, who was just under the age of 21 at the time of committing the crime, was still a young adult and could not have been sentenced to the maximum sentence of life imprisonment, and received a 20-year prison sentence instead.

Under the same ruling, his father Radisa was also sentenced to 20 years in prison for the criminal offence of illicit manufacture, possession, carrying and distribution of arms and explosives and a serious crime against general safety.