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Slovakia

Gunman in Slovakia kills eight then himself

A man armed with an assault rifle shot seven people dead, wounded 15 and then turned the gun on himself in a Monday morning rampage on a housing estate in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava.  

Photo: Reuters
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"A man in his fifties shot six people dead and eventually killed himself after the police cornered him as he tried to escape the crime scene," said police commander Jaroslav Spisiak.

"The seventh victim, a 52-year old woman, didn't belong to the murdered family and was probably shot accidentally on her balcony when the gunman on the run started shooting into windows," Interior Minister Daniel Lipsic said.

Police declined to speculate on a motive for one of the worst such incidents in the country's history, but said six of the dead were all of the same family of Roma origin.

The interior minister said a racial motive was unlikely however.

Running out of the house from where he had first opened fire the man fired at random, wounding at least 15 people, including a three-year-old child, who were taken to hospital.

"Thirteen people are in hospital at the moment, one of them is in a critical but stabilised condition, three are in a serious condition and nine are stabilised," Health Minister Ivan Uhliarik said.

Vladimir Mraz, the mayor of Devinska Nova Ves, told the SITA news agency local authorities had warned people through loudspeakers not to go out or near their windows after getting a tip from the police as the firing started.

The police sealed off the neighbourhood and buses were diverted away from the district.

Mraz said the police were still investigating the identity of the gunman and some of his victims.

 

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