
Prelë Gjoni and Lekë Gjoni, father and son, fell victim to an assassination attempt on Sunday afternoon, as they were returning to their apartment in the Gruda area, in Shkodra.
Two people, still unidentified, were ambushed on the road to the village of Xhan and opened fire in the direction of the vehicle in which they were traveling.
More than 50 shell casings were found at the scene, while preliminary investigation data indicates the use of two firearms, a Kalashnikov and an MP5.
The attack killed Prelë Gjoni, 82 years old, and his son, Lekë Gjoni, 57 years old, while the third person in the vehicle, Lazër Bashi, was injured and according to information recently released by the Trauma Hospital, fortunately he is out of danger.
The incident is suspected to have occurred around 4:00 PM, on a segment of the Xhan village road, in a deep and rugged mountainous area of Dukagjin.
The father and son had spent the day before at their old home in Dukagjin, where they also kept several beehives, and after staying there, they had set off to return to their home in Gruda.
While they were traveling on the village road, two unidentified individuals allegedly approached them and opened fire.
They fired a barrage of bullets, while as can be seen in the subsequent footage, the four-wheel drive vehicle in which the father, son and Lazër Bashi were traveling was completely destroyed.
Before the investigative group, the victims' families stated that Prelë and Lekë Gjoni were not known to be conflicted people and that they were not aware of any previous threats against them.
According to family members' testimonies, father and son had gone to their old apartment in Dukagjin the day before, where they also engaged in beekeeping, and were returning in a completely normal manner to their apartment in the Gruda area, unaware that an ambush might have been set up on their way back.
One of the leads being verified by the police is related to the 57-year-old's personal life. About three months ago, Lekë Gjoni divorced his wife, with whom he had four children.
However, up to this stage of the investigation, there is no concrete evidence linking the divorce to the assassination and this lead remains within the scope of the investigation team's verifications.
Investigators are also analyzing the activity of the 57-year-old. Lekë Gjoni worked with a truck and, according to data collected so far, in recent days he had been transporting construction materials for a house in the village of Gjuraj, Dukagjini.
He also had an excavator in use, which he worked with together with another resident of the area, which has led investigators to verify his recent activity and the people with whom he had had contact.