Video captures moment assassin shoots Slovakia's prime minister

Video has emerged of the moment when an assassin shot Robert Fico, the prime minister of Slovakia. 

Take a look:

Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico survived an assassination attempt yesterday after being shot five times by a gunman who was among a small crowd of people waiting to greet the prime minister on the street. pic.twitter.com/7gqZ8tmLoZ

— EDHUB🌍ℹ (@eddie_wrt) May 16, 2024

The end of the video shows Fico being rushed to the hospital.

He is expected to survive.

What happened?

The above video is from Wednesday afternoon, when Fico met publicly with some of his supporters in Handlova, a town located northeast of Slovakia's capital, Bratislava.

As Fico went up to the crowd that had gathered, one member of the crowd - a man in a white shirt - lunged to the front with a pistol, pointed it at Fico, and fired five times.

The 59-year-old prime minister could be seen in the video falling backward. Then, security personnel rapidly escorted him to a vehicle, which exited the scene. Fico was then rushed to the hospital.

Meanwhile, other security personnel tackled the shooter, taking him to the ground. The suspect was handcuffed and, presumably, taken to prison.

At the hospital, it was discovered that Fico had been hit by at least two of the bullets, with one striking him in the stomach. Initially, he was said to be in an "extraordinarily serious" condition and "fighting for his life." But, after over three hours of surgery, Fico's condition has been downgraded, and it now appears as though he will survive.

Background

At the of this writing, not much information has been released about the shooter. It has been confirmed, by the country's interior minister, that the shooting was politically motivated.

The New York Post reports:

A staunch conservative, Fico was elected to his third term as prime minister in September after campaigning with a pro-Russian and anti-American stance. In Slovakia, the prime minister is the most powerful office. Numerous demonstrations have been staged in Bratislava in protest of Fico’s policies since his election.

Another video has been circulating the internet, which shows Fico predicting his own assassination about a month before this attack was carried out. The video can be found here.

Speaking about the civil unreset, particularly from his political opponents, following his election, Fico, in the video, says, "I'm just waiting to see when this frustrating, so intensely amplified by the newspapers, the media, or the news, will translate into the murder of one leading government, and I'm not exaggerating a millimeter."

Unfortunately, he was right.