Another suspect detained over armed attack on Dündar

ISTANBUL – Anadolu Agency

AA photo

Police have detained another suspect over the armed attack which targeted daily Cumhuriyet Editor-in-Chief Can Dündar in front of Istanbul’s Çağlayan courthouse on May 6.

The suspect, identified as Sabri B., was detained on May 12 after homicide department police officers determined Dündar’s attacker, Murat Şahin, took the gun used in the attack from him.

A total of four suspects are currently being interrogated over the armed attack, while an Istanbul court ordered the arrest of Şahin on May 11.

Şahin approached Dündar as he was speaking to reporters during a break in a May 6 hearing, in which the journalist was being tried on charges of revealing state secrets. He fired two shots at Dündar’s legs, saying, “You are a traitor.” 

Şahin was later detained while Dündar escaped the attack uninjured, though Yağız Şenkal, a reporter for private broadcaster NTV, was wounded in the leg.

Şahin claimed he carried out the act “independently” and “wanted to teach Dündar a lesson” as he “did not like him,” security sources said, after detaining the 40-year-old following the attack.

“If I wanted to kill him, I would [have], but I shot at his leg to scare him,” he reportedly said.