Gunman Kills Five People In Georgian Town

A former serviceman opened fire in a Georgian town, killing five people before turning the weapon on himself, the Caucasus country’s interior ministry said Friday.

The shooting took place overnight in Sagarejo, a town of some 10,000 people around 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

The interior ministry said the gunman opened fire from the balcony of an apartment block, killing four people in the building’s courtyard and a police officer, who was called to the scene.

Another five people were wounded.

The ministry said the gunman killed himself when police reinforcements arrived.

Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri told local media the shooter was ex-military, who served between 2006 and 2021, including in Afghanistan.

The ministry said he was born in 1974.

Police found the shooter “lying on a bed with a firearm near him” and a wound to his head, Gomelauri was quoted as saying by Georgia’s 1TV.

He added that one of the wounded was in “serious condition” and undergoing surgery.

A criminal investigation has been opened into charges of murder and the illegal possession of firearms.

In October, a shooter opened fire at a restaurant in Georgia’s Black Sea port city of Batumi, killing one person — a Turkish citizen — and injuring three others.