Uploaded August 2010 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
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A gunman shot dead six members of a Roma family and another woman in the Slovak capital, Bratislava, today before killing himself, officials said.
Fourteen others were wounded in a subsequent gunbattle with police, including one officer who was shot in the head.
The motive of the gunman, who was a Slovak aged about 50, and his identity were still being investigated, the local police chief Jaroslav Spisiak said.
"He was alone. He fired at everything that moved during his escape bid, the policemen surrounded him ... they made it impossible for him to escape," Spisiak told reporters near the apartment block where the shooting happened.
The interior minister, Daniel Lipsic, said six of the victims were members of the Roma minority. The integration of the 430,000-strong Roma community has been a long-running issue in Slovakia, which has a population of 5.4 million.
"It was a family of Roma origin. We do not know the motive yet, I do not want to speculate if it was or was not a racist motive," Lipsic told a news conference.
Follow us on Facebook facebook.com/pages/News-Story-of-the-Day/102093479848944
A gunman shot dead six members of a Roma family and another woman in the Slovak capital, Bratislava, today before killing himself, officials said.
Fourteen others were wounded in a subsequent gunbattle with police, including one officer who was shot in the head.
The motive of the gunman, who was a Slovak aged about 50, and his identity were still being investigated, the local police chief Jaroslav Spisiak said.
"He was alone. He fired at everything that moved during his escape bid, the policemen surrounded him ... they made it impossible for him to escape," Spisiak told reporters near the apartment block where the shooting happened.
The interior minister, Daniel Lipsic, said six of the victims were members of the Roma minority. The integration of the 430,000-strong Roma community has been a long-running issue in Slovakia, which has a population of 5.4 million.
"It was a family of Roma origin. We do not know the motive yet, I do not want to speculate if it was or was not a racist motive," Lipsic told a news conference.
