Authorities are bringing in people for questioning about the Friday morning shooting which claimed the lives of two police officers in Sarajevo’s Alipasino Polje neighbourhood, the Commissioner of the Interior Ministry of Sarajevo Canton (KS) told N1 on Friday.
During the early morning hours, a police patrol in the Sarajevo neighbourhood caught a suspect red-handed as he/she was trying to steal a vehicle.
But the suspect(s) opened fire at the police vehicle while it was still moving.
One officer was killed instantly and the other was severely injured. He also died several hours later, as doctors were trying to save his life.
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Since then, police forces at all government levels, including those in Bosnia’s Serb-dominated semi-autonomous Republika Srpska (RS) entity, have been conducting an extensive investigation and manhunt.
“I would like to especially point out the engagement of the Police department from the RS Interior Ministry,” Commissioner Mevludin Halilovic said, adding that police operations are ongoing in both the Federation (FBiH) entity and in the RS entity part of the capital and that suspects are being brought in for questioning.
“This was a situation that connected police agencies from the early morning hours,” Halilovic said.
“We are talking about the gravest criminal act that could be committed against police officers,” he added.
The standard for police officers is to be armed with short barrel firearms, he explained.
However, last year KS police requested to be armed with long barrel firearms, and the local Government approved the funds for the purchase. The acquisition of 300 automatic firearms for the local police force is underway, Halilovic said.
Police brought in 13 persons for questioning from the areas of Sarajevo and Pale, a suburb located in the RS entity, the RS Interior Ministry confirmed to local media.
Meanwhile, Sarajevans organised a gathering at the crime scene to pay their respect to the murdered officers and to protest the security situation in the capital.
