Shortly after his appointment, in 1994 a wave of genocidal violence against the Tutsi ethnic minority broke out. Br. Georges Gashugi, a Rwandan friar on the eve of his consecration, was hauled from a truck in late April 1994, identified as a Tutsi and slaughtered: his last wish, to be allowed to die in his Franciscan tunic, was denied. One of the earliest missionaries, from Croatia, Vjeko Curic, who had gone on to master the Kinyarwanda language of Rwanda, proved instrumental in both saving many Tutsi from falling victims of the genocide and in helping Hutus who had been later targeted for revenge when the first wave of violence passed, was shot dead, reportedly by a hired gunman whom he had formerly helped, in Kigali on 31 January 1998.