TIRANA, Oct. 12 – Two men were killed and two were wounded in a Wednesday shootout in Lushnja, in what police believe was a possible quarrel between two criminal gangs.
Police said both victims Zaimir Latifi and Jurgen Hoxha were in their early 20s and were targeted in a bar, whose owner, Marius Xhepexhiu, 26, is in critical condition in hospital after being wounded in the shootout.
Witnesses told police and media outlets a man wearing a mask and driving a vehicle targeted the victims using an AK-47 rifle.
Police arrived at the scene quickly but the shooter was able to escape.
The vehicle involved in shooting was found burned outside the city shortly thereafter, according local media reports.
State Police Chief Haki Cako went to Lushnja to hold an urgent meeting with law enforcement officials, pushing for work on identifying the authors. Special police units from the larger neighboring city of Fier were also rushed to assist Lushnja police.
Located in south-central Albania, the city of Lushnja, population about 30,000, has a history of notorious criminal gangs dating back the anarchy of 1997.
Several media outlets reported a nephew of Aldo Bare, the city’s most notorious gang leader currently in prison, was the target of the shooting but managed to escape.
His family members told local media there was no connection and that the young man was not involved.
Police said Thursday it had identified the suspected authors, issuing arrest warrants for Laert Haxhiu dhe Orgest Bilbili, two men known to local police as part of a gang that has a long hostility record with Bare’s gang.
Bare, the leader of a large drug-smuggling ring active across Southeastern Europe, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Tirana district court in 2011.
He was found guilty of seven murders, creation of a criminal organization, illegal possession of weapons and property destruction. He has since unsuccessfully tried to overturn the convictions.
