Mass shooting in Georgia; five dead

On the night of January 20, in the city of Sagarejo in eastern Georgia, an armed man opened fire from the balcony of an apartment building on people in the yard below. Five people were killed, four others wounded, and the gunman committed suicide.

This is the first mass shooting in Georgia.

The perpetrator was Nodar Atuashvili, an ex-soldier born in 1974. It is reported that he worked for several years in law enforcement, and had been to Afghanistan. There is no word about motive yet.

According to eyewitnesses, the shooting occurred at about 1AM. At some, the assailant shot himself; he was dead when police entered the apartment.

“He shot from the balcony of the third floor, from his place. I saw them being shot. He led a secluded life. He had no dealings with anyone,” one witness said.

Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia Vakhtang Gomelauri went to the scene. One of the victims was a police officer, senior detective Otar Gvinashvili.