Suspect In Slovakia PM Shooting Restrained In Dramatic Footage, Identified As 71-Year-Old Writer | Watch

Slovakia’s Prime Minister, Robert Fico, who was shot multiple times and gravely wounded on Wednesday, is now believed to be out of danger. Fico, 59, the prime minister of the small landlocked country in Europe had been greeting supporters at an event when the attempted assassination took place, shocking the continent weeks before an election.

Five shots were fired outside a cultural center in the town of Handlova, nearly 140 kilometers northeast of the capital. Fico was shot while attending a meeting of his government in the town of 16,000 that was once a center of coal mining. The gunman shot Fico five times, initially leaving him in critical condition and undergoing surgery hours later. One bullet reportedly went through Fico’s stomach and a second hit a joint.

Caught On Cam

Who Is The Suspected Shooter of Fico?

A suspect detained for shooting Slovakia’s PM is a 71-year-old writer from the centre of the European nation, the interior minister said Wednesday. “I think I can confirm this, yes,” Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok told reporters when asked about reports identifying the man detained at the scene of the shooting in the town of Handlova.

A grey-haired suspect was seen being handcuffed on the ground just after Fico was shot several times after a government meeting in Handlova. Media reports said the suspect was a founder of the DUHA (Rainbow) Literary Club and was from the town of Levice.

The reports, which also named him, said he has written three poetry collections and is a member of the official Association of Slovak Writers. The association confirmed on Facebook that the man had been a member since 2015, adding that if his identity as the suspected shooter was confirmed “the membership of this despicable person will be immediately cancelled”.

‘Why it happened?’

Officials said late Wednesday that Fico was no longer in a life-threatening condition. “I was very shocked … fortunately as far as I know the operation went well – and I guess in the end he will survive … he’s not in a life-threatening situation at this moment,” Slovak Deputy Prime Minister and Environment Minister Tomas Taraba told the BBC’s Newshour.

The suspect’s son told Slovak news site aktuality.sk that he had “absolutely no idea what father was thinking, what he was planning, why it happened”. He said his father was a legally registered gun owner. When asked if he felt any hatred toward Fico, the son said: “I’ll tell you this: he didn’t vote for him. That’s all I can say about it.”

Vlasta Kollarova, head of a local library in the man’s hometown told Dennik N daily: “He was rebellious when he was young, but not aggressive”. Several political statements by the man could be found on social media. “The world is full of violence and weapons. People seem to be going crazy,” he said in a video eight years ago posted online.

In the video, he also spoke about concern over immigration and “hatred and extremism” and said European governments “have no alternative to this chaos”. He also said in the video that he had founded a “Movement Against Violence” in Levice. The movement, which also has its Facebook page, defines itself as “an emerging political party whose goal is to prevent the spread of violence in society. To prevent war in Europe and the spread of hatred.”

(With agency inputs)