Frightening footage has emerged of the moment a gunman fired five shots at the Slovakian prime minister in a violent assassination attempt – as the leader underwent surgery and is no longer in critical condition, officials confirmed.
The clip showed Prime Minister Robert Fico greeting supporters in his country on Wednesday afternoon when a man in a white shirt lunged across the crowd with a pistol pointed at the politician.
Gunfire rang out and the prime minister, 59, lurched backward, then police and security agents tackled the gunman to the ground, the footage circulating on social media showed.
Fico was hit by at least two bullets – one striking him in the stomach – but after more than three and a half hours of surgery he was finally released and “is expected to survive,” Deputy Prime Minister Tomáš Taraba told the BBC.
“As far as I know the operation went well, and I guess in the end he will survive,” Taraba said. “He’s not in a life-threatening situation at this moment.”
Taraba added the prime minister was “heavily injured” in the shooting, but that the speed of the emergency response helped save his life.
It was initially unclear whether Fico would survive. Hours after the shooting, official reports from interior minister Matúš Šutaj-Eštok described Fico as being in “extraordinarily serious” condition and “fighting for his life.”
Slovakia’s interior minister Matúš Šutaj-Eštok later in the day said the shooting was “politically motivated” after the country’s recent presidential election.
Fico’s official Facebook page called the shooting an assassination attempt.
Separate footage from the scene showed the suspected shooter being tackled to the ground and cuffed.
Another clip showed the seriously wounded Fico being carried away by his security detail and loaded into a black government car, which then sped off.
The shooting happened in the town of Handlova, about 90 miles northeast of the capital Bratislava.
Photos from the scene showed a white middle-aged man with a bloodied head being detained by police.
A staunch conservative, Fico was elected to his third term as prime minister in September after campaigning with a pro-Russian and anti-American stance.
In Slovakia, the prime minister is the most powerful office. Numerous demonstrations have been staged in Bratislava in protest of Fico’s policies since his election.
Despite the tensions, Fico’s opponents in government condemned the shooting, and even canceled a planned protest after the attack.
“We absolutely and strongly condemn violence and today’s shooting of Premier Robert Fico,” progressive Slovakia leader Michal Simecka said.
“At the same time we call on all politicians to refrain from any expressions and steps which could contribute to further increasing the tension,” he added.
With Post wires
