The Shifting Legacy Of The Man Who Shot Franz Ferdinand. The Shifting Legacy Of The Man Who Shot Franz Ferdinand. Nineteen-year-old Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip fired the shots that killed the heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife, Sophie, during a visit to Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. Depending on whom you ask, he's either a hero or a terrorist.