TIRANA, March 2, 2023 – A man recently released from prison went on a targeted killing spree in the outskirts of Albania’s capital on Wednesday, killing three women and wounding another three, including two former romantic partners.
All happened in a span of 35 minutes, in three different areas in Tirana, before police caught up and arrested the author, Dan Hutra, who has a long criminal record.
Everything started a little after noon, when he first went to Marjana Gurakuqi’s shop, with whom he had a previous relationship. After she refused to give him money, he wounded her with a knife. The woman did not file a complaint with the police, but it was the hospital doctors who made the announcement after she went to receive treatment for her injuries.
About 20 minutes later, Hutra went to Kodër Kamzë to the home of his former live-in partner, Elena Hysa, who had previously filed charges against him for domestic violence. He used an automatic weapon, killing 30-year-old Mevlute Hysa, Elena’s sister, and 30-year-old Hasime Dafku, Elena’s brother’s fiancee. Elena herself, the former partner of the shooter, and her mother Kujtimja, were injured.
About 10 minutes later, traveling by car, he went to the Bathore area to the Kurti family’s apartment, where he shot and killed 31-year-old Etleva Kurti. Her murder is suspected to have been done for revenge purposes, due to the conflicts the shooter had with the victim’s brother in prison.
The Albanian public anger has turned on the justice system as to why Hutra was released from prison even though he had a criminal past rich in murder, violence and theft.
According to the police, he “was sentenced in 2003, to two years in prison, for the criminal offense of illegal deprivation of liberty; in 2009, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison for premeditated murder of his ex-wife; in 2021, he was arrested by the police in Durrës, for residential burglary, and in Durrës, he was arrested for attempted residential burglary in 2022. In June of the same year, he was arrested by Tirana Police, for domestic violence against his former live-in partner, Elena Hysa, and was released from prison on Feb. 16, 2023.”
President Bajram Begaj reacted to the event, who considered the murders of three women and the wounding of three others as “macabre.”
“Such phenomena of extreme violence or any form of violence against women have no place and cannot be part of our democratic society, where human dignity and life are high and irreplaceable values,” Mr. Begaj said in a statement, condemning “severely all incidents of domestic violence” and “demanding that law enforcement agencies act with the force of the law.”
Minister of the Interior Bledi Çuçi said police had acted to arrest the shooter, but that the justice system should have done more.
“A serious event, which could have been avoided if the author had still been in prison due to his past criminal acts,” Mr. Çuci said in a statement.
After being sentenced for the murder committed in 2007, Hutra was released from prison in May 2021. In the space of one year, he has faced the law enforcement agencies three more times.
It remains unclear why he has not been punished, although he has been arrested twice for theft or attempted theft of apartments, especially given his dangerous precedents.
On Feb. 8, 2023, he was released after being arrested in June 2022, following allegations of violence by his former live-in partner. It seems that he may have been sentenced to no more than a year in prison, or may have benefited from a shortened trial to be released from prison. Whether the judge of the case took into consideration his past is also unclear.
High Inspector of Justice Artur Metani announced that he ordered the initiation of the verification of the case to see if there are any wrong actions by judges involved, for which there would be disciplinary measures taken.
