New details have emerged about the murder of judge Astrit Kalaja inside the premises of the Tirana Court of Appeal.
Journalist Besar Bajraktaraj told Klan News that the perpetrator of the murder, Elvis Shkëmbi, had surrendered to the police immediately after the incident, but before leaving the courthouse and surrendering, he had left the murder weapon with a security guard.
"A court hearing was underway, where the perpetrator of this incident was with his father, a third party, and there were other parties who were not present. The hearing lasted about 1 hour and 40 minutes. The judge gave a decision in favor of the complainant. The judge left the courtroom, where the perpetrator of this incident was waiting for him and left. However, before leaving, he gave the murder weapon to the security guard, who should have checked it at the beginning. Then the perpetrator came out and then spotted a Tirana Police patrol, to whom he declared that he was the perpetrator of the murder and made the arrest possible, without knowing what had happened," said Bajraktaraj.
According to sources, the pistol was not abandoned on the ground as initially reported, but was handed over by the perpetrator precisely in the security guard's sweatshirt, who will now be questioned by investigators about how the incident occurred and why he did not check the weapon at the time of taking it.
"So, he had left the murder weapon in the courthouse. The pistol was not left on the ground, but in the security guard's jacket and he left completely calmly. The security guard will be questioned by investigators about the circumstances of how the incident occurred," the journalist added.
The serious incident occurred this Monday at around 3:40 PM, when the Tirana Court of Appeals turned into a crime scene, as immediately after the end of a court session, judge Astrit Kalaja was shot to death, while two other people, a father and son (parties in the trial), were also injured.
The perpetrator is Elvis Shkëmbi, around 30 years old, who was a party to a court case over a property issue in the city of Shkodra, for which the judge is suspected of having given a verdict today, not in his favor. He has been arrested by the Police, while the crime weapon has also been seized.