A man armed with a shotgun opened fire on teenagers as they left a Bulgarian orphanage Wednesday, killing a 15-year-old girl and wounding another two before taking his own life, police said.
The motive of the attack, in the western city of Tran, was not immediately clear, but police said the 67-year-old Bulgarian man had previous convictions for sexual abuse.
Officials said the two wounded teenagers, aged 12 and 15, have been hospitalized and were expected to survive.
The gunman, identified as Asen Iliev, fired several times at the children with a legally-owned shotgun and then fatally shot himself, police said.
Murder silences witness
The national radio and state news agency BTA quoted police officials as saying the man had been investigated over alleged sexual abuse of one of the wounded children. The dead girl had been summoned as a witness in the case.
The radio network reported the man was a former supervisor who was fired from the orphanage over "heavy violations."
The shooting was the worst in a series of incidents over the past week at state homes for handicapped or abandoned children, where neglect and abuse are rampant, according to recent media reports.
On Sunday, a 9-year-old girl was badly hurt after jumping from the third floor of a children's home in central Sofia. The next day, a 14-year-old boy from the same home was taken to a hospital after another inmate threw a stone at him.