Former soldier kills 5, including police officer, in ex-Soviet Georgia

TBILISI (Reuters) – A Georgian man killed five people including a police officer after opening fire from the balcony of a residential building, then turned his gun on himself, the Georgian interior ministry said on Friday.

The motive for the shooting in the town of Sagarejo, east of the capital Tbilisi, was not clear.

“Additional police teams were mobilized at the scene of the incident, as well as a special unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Upon their arrival, the accused person allegedly committed suicide with a firearm,” the ministry said.

Georgian media identified the shooter as a former Georgian soldier who had served in the country’s contingent in Afghanistan.

(Reporting by Reuters, Editing by Mark Trevelyan)