Husband sentenced to 18 years in slaying

TIRANA, April 26 – Gjin Kolbucaj was sentenced to 18 years in prison for shooting his wife, Ljulaja Kolbucaj, 39, more than two years ago in their Sterling Heights condominium in the United States.
Kolbucaj was sentenced by Judge Mark Switalski in Macomb County Circuit Court to an additional two years for a felony firearms conviction. Kolbucaj pleaded guilty in March, shortly after jury selection began in his trial. The shooting left the Kolbucajs’ two children, a 9-year-old boy and 11-year-old girl, without parents. Kolbucaj’s parental rights have been terminated. Immediately after the shooting on March 31, 2006, Kolbucaj shot himself twice in the chest but survived. He later tried to commit suicide in the county jail by diving from a second bunk onto the floor. Gjin and Ljulja Kolbucaj were married in Albania and emigrated to America. (Tirana Times Staff)