May 15 (CNN/GNA) – Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico is hospitalized in a life-threatening condition Wednesday after he was shot multiple times in an assassination attempt.
The shooting took place after an off-site government meeting in the central Slovak town of Handlova. The suspected gunman was among a small crowd of people waiting to greet the prime minister on the street outside the cultural center, where the meeting took place, local media reported.
Footage from the scene shows the injured prime minister being bundled into a vehicle by several of his staff, with the car speeding away from the scene as soon as he is inside.
Fico was first transported to a local hospital and then taken by helicopter to a major trauma center in Banska Bystrica, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) away.
A statement posted on Fico’s official Facebook page and his party’s website called the attack “an assassination attempt.”
“He was shot multiple times and is currently in a life-threatening condition. The next few hours will be decisive,” according to the statement.
No one else was injured in the attack, according to Slovak Labor Minister Erik Tomáš.
GNA/Credit: CNN