Police are investigating a triple murder and suicide in what appears to be a family tragedy in the eastern rural part of the Ljubljana municipality. A 22-year-old seems to have murdered his 26-year-old sister and parents, aged 56 and 60, the information gathered so far suggests.
The 22-year-old, who committed suicide after the murders, used a knife and a firearm to kill his family members, the Ljubljana Police Department said on Tuesday.
According to the Ljubljana criminal police chief Valter Zrinski, the police had been notified of the incident at around 9pm on Monday, when the 26-year-old reported violent behaviour of her brother.
A few minutes later, the 22-year-old himself called the police to confess the triple murder, and say he was armed.
Police rushed to the scene along with a special police unit only to find the bodies of the 26-year-old, a 56-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man, with wounds presumably caused by a knife and a firearm.
The 22-year-old presumably committed suicide using the firearm, which the family owned legally. The owner was the 60-year-old.
An investigative judge and a prosecutor inspected the crime scene and an investigation is under way. Zrinski told the press the main question was the motive, as the 22-year-old had no criminal record and the family had not been processed by police for domestic violence.
According to public broadcaster RTV Slovenija, the neighbours of the family from Dolgo Brdo near Janče are shocked. They said the family had lived a quiet life with no known conflicts. They also said they had heard only one shot last night.
Zrinski said the police had not noticed any rise in such family tragedies during the coronavirus epidemic.
A total of six family murders have been recorded in Slovenia since 2000, three of which were triple murders.
The number of murders in Slovenia changes by the year. Last year, 10 murders and attempted murders were recorded, which is the lowest number in a decade. The highest number of such crimes was recorded in 2015, 25.
Most frequently, the victims are family members or acquaintances, and the most common motive is dispute or revenge.