A judge in Albania was shot dead after a man opened fire during a trial at the Court of Appeal in the capital Tirana.
Judge Astrit Kalaja died on the way to hospital, officials said, while two others involved in the hearing over a property dispute – a father and a son – but suffered injuries that were not life-threatening.
Police said they arrested a 30-year-old male suspect whom they identified by the initials “E Sh” but Albanian media have named him as Elvis Shkëmbi.
Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama offered his condolences to Kalaja’s family, adding: “The criminal aggression against the judge undoubtedly requires the extreme legal response to the attacker.”
He also called for tighter security within the country’s courts and tougher penalties for illegal possession of weapons.
Sali Berisha, leader of the opposition Democratic Party, said Judge Kalaja’s murder was the first time in 35 years that a judge had been killed “doing his duty,” adding: “Today is the day for a deep reflection of all Albanian society.”
The suspect in Judge Kalaja’s murder opened fire because he expected to lose the case, according to local media reports.
Mr. Shkëmbi’s uncle and the court’s security guard were also reportedly arrested over the shooting.
Gun attacks on judges in the courtroom are rare, but they happen. A decade ago, a judge in Milan’s Palace of Justice was shot and killed by a man in court in a bankruptcy case.
The gunman also killed a lawyer and his co-dependent before fleeing, but was later arrested.
Justice Kalaja has been a lawyer for more than 30 years. He initially worked in a district court before being appointed to the Tirana Court of Appeal in 2019.
Among Balkan countries, Albania had the highest number of firearm incidents involving public disputes in the first six months of this year. According to an unsupported regional monitor.
Between January and June, there were 43 cases in which a firearm was involved in a public dispute in Albania, out of a total of 213 firearm-related incidents.
However, this is lower than the number recorded in the same period last year and lower than the number of incidents reported in Kosovo, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first half of 2025.
