On January 19, at 2 am in Sagarejo town, in the vicinity of the hospital, 48-year-old Nodar Atuashvili, a former military officer, fired a gun several times from one of the residential buildings’ balcony. As a result, four people were killed and five people around the building area in the yard were wounded. Nodar Atuashvili opened fire against the police officers called to the spot, killing one of them. After the mobilization of the Special Tasks Department forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Sagarejo, according to Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri, the accused allegedly committed suicide by firing a firearm.
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Local doctor Leila Otiashvili was the first one who spread the information about the incident in Sagarejo on social networks:
“An unimaginable terrorist act is happening in the vicinity of the Sagarejo hospital. A terrorist, who has been shooting with automatic weapons for several hours, is on the upper floor of one of the buildings. One policeman was killed. Two of them are in severe condition. There are three corpses in the courtyard of the building, which cannot be taken out. The paramedics who arrived at the scene barely escaped the fatal shooting. The police have been mobilized, but the terrorist has not been killed so far. They bring many wounded. The medical staff is in shock. We can hear the sound of shooting from all sides.”
Minister of Internal Affairs Vakhtang Gomelauri specified that five people died, one of them being a police officer. “5 people were wounded, one of them is seriously injured, and he is undergoing surgery as his artery is damaged. Doctors still cannot tell us if he will survive or not.
None of us can explain what happened. A citizen started shooting from a house with an automatic weapon. His son, who is an adult, was at home. First, the shooting started from one side of the balcony, then from the other side, after which the son managed to escape the house.
Then the police officers came. He opened fire from the other side and wounded our employee. During the transfer to the hospital, our employee passed away.
From what has been confirmed by operational information, he is a military man, who has been working as one since 2006; he left in 2021. I can’t say for sure. This is primary information. He has also visited Afghanistan in the Afghan mission. No one knows yet What happened.
When the Special Forces arrived, they were called to fire several more times. When they opened the door, as they entered, they heard a gunshot. He was lying on the bed, and an automatic firearm was next to him, which was throughout observed by our staff. He was bleeding from the head. They saw rings of a hand grenade there, several pieces, and he could have put them mined under him. We called the miners. Now they have finished their work.
His son can’t tell us anything. According to him, when he ran out of the house, there were already corpses on the front side of the building, and boys were lying in front,” said Minister of Internal Affairs Vakhtang Gomelauri, who arrived in Sagarejo at the crime scene.
When asked whether Nodar Atuashvili had mental problems and why he left the military service, the minister said that he had no information regarding this.
The investigation is carried out under Article 109, subsection “L” and the third part of Article 236 of the Criminal Code, which refers to intentional killing under aggravating circumstances and Illegal purchase, storage, carrying, manufacturing, transportation, forwarding, or sale of firearms (other than hunting smooth-bore firearms (shotguns)), ammunition, explosives or explosive devices.
