Man arrested over Novi Sad boulevard shooting

Officers of the Interior Ministry in Novi Sad, working with the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in the same city, have arrested M. L., born in 1998, a resident of Novi Sad. The arrest was announced on July 28, almost four weeks after a shooting on Bulevar oslobodjenja, one of the busiest thoroughfares in the city.

According to the police statement, on July 1 the suspect approached a vehicle in which a 25-year-old Novi Sad resident was sitting and fired a pistol shot that left a through-and-through wound to the man’s leg. He is accused of two criminal offences: attempted murder, and the illegal manufacture, possession, carrying and trade of weapons and explosive materials.

The shooting happened in the afternoon, at around 3.45 p.m., on a stretch of the boulevard lined with heavy traffic and hospitality venues. The wounded man was conscious when he was taken to the emergency centre of the Clinical Centre of Vojvodina. The hospital said at the time that the patient was haemodynamically stable, oriented and communicative, and that he had been admitted for further treatment.

What prosecutors established in the early stage

The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad said an on-site investigation had been carried out and evidence collected at the scene. Officers also searched the suspect’s flat and other premises, and forensic examinations were ordered. These are standard steps in a pre-trial procedure, and their results have yet to feed into the prosecution’s next decision.

Immediately after the arrest, the suspect was held in custody for up to 48 hours. He was then brought before the higher public prosecutor in Novi Sad together with a criminal complaint. The prosecutor now decides on the next steps, including any request for pre-trial detention.

Unofficial accounts published in the media say the shooting took place outside a food outlet and that the wounded man got into a car after the shot and drove through the city looking for help. Those claims do not appear in the official statements from the police or the prosecution, so they should be read as a version still waiting to be tested against evidence. The official account remains the one in the statement: a man approached a vehicle and fired a single shot.

What sentence does the suspect face?

Attempted murder carries a prison sentence of five to 15 years. The illegal manufacture, possession, carrying and trade of weapons and explosive materials carries two to 12 years. If prosecutors keep both counts, the court will sentence for concurrent offences, which in practice means a single sentence heavier than either one alone.

The usual caveat applies at this stage. The man is a suspect, and his guilt has not been established by a final court ruling. Until the proceedings end he is presumed innocent, and his full name is not published. No official statement has set out a motive for the shooting.

A shot fired in broad daylight on a city boulevard, at a time when the streets are full, shifts the debate from a single case to gun control. Novi Sad has seen several firearm incidents in public places over the past year, and each one ends with the same question: where did the pistol come from.

Do you think five to 15 years is enough for firing a weapon in a public place, or should the law be tougher on guns carried in the street?