Assassination attempt on Slovakia’s PM Robert Fico, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico is in a stable condition after an emergency surgery, following a politically motivated assassination attempt on Wednesday, during which he was shot five times, a government minister said. The gunman, believed to be a 71-year-old writer, is in custody. No one else was injured in the attack.
Fico was injured on Wednesday in a shooting deemed by the government as an assassination attempt. The prime minister was shot five times as he was leaving a government meeting and greeting people in the town of Handlova.
After the violent incident, the 59-year-old leader was transferred by helicopter to a hospital near the city of Banska Bystrica because of the need for “acute intervention”. He underwent surgery at a medical facility in the city in central Slovakia, 62km (39 miles) east of Handlova.
BREAKING: The Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, has just been shot in public.
This comes only days after Fico formally & publicly rejected The WHO Global Pandemic Accord. pic.twitter.com/cQKmmJKb4c
— Pubity (@pubity) May 15, 2024
A video shared on social media showed Fico approaching a small group of people in a public square. Suddenly, a man emerged and discharged a pistol from close range, resulting in five audible gunshots. After the first gunshot, Fico doubled over and fell backwards onto a bench, local media reported, adding that he was shot in the abdomen and a second hit a joint.
Security officers rushed and took him to a black Audi. At the shooting site, security officers wrestled a suspect to the ground. Officials stated that preliminary evidence suggested political motivations. According to reports, Fico was conscious while being transported to hospital. The suspect was seen wearing a pale blue shirt, sitting on the ground with his hands tied behind his back.
The shooting took place in the town of Handlova, approximately 190km (118 miles) northeast of Slovakia’s capital, Bratislava.According to a report by the Associated Press quoting local media, the gunman was a former security guard at a shopping mall, the writer of three poetry collections and held membership in the Slovak Society of Writers. News outlet Aktuality.sk quoted his son as saying his father was the legal holder of a gun licence.