Shooting in Roma settlement in Novo Mesto leaves child injured

The police received information about the shooting just after 1pm, while another phone call, about a house on fire, came in shortly afterwards, Robert Perc from the Police Department told the press.

First police patrols that arrived at Šmihel arrested the 51-year-old suspect and restored order so that paramedics could do their job and take the child to hospital.

The child does not seem to be the target of shooting, with Perc saying "it appears that the child was an accidental victim of the shooting".

Firefighters also arrived at the scene and put out the fire. First estimates put damage at around EUR 20,000.

The fire broke out in the house of the shooter, so the police suspect "it was retaliation by other residents of the settlement for the shooting".

It is not yet known what was the exact reason for either the shooting or the fire as the investigation is still ongoing, including into attempted murder and arson.

Perc said that the suspect had had run-ins with the police before for crimes with elements of violence.

Several other persons came to the emergency room reporting minor injuries, but police are yet to established how they were caused.

Since police presence was seriously beefed up in the area of Novo Mesto, some police officers were also sent to the emergency room in case they would have to prevent any further violence, but no incidents have been reported, said Perc.

The area of the shooting and fire was cordoned off and movement restricted.

An investigating judge and a district prosecutor were informed of the incident, which comes as Roma-related issues, various violent incidents in the south and south-east of the country, have been making headlines in recent months.