SAA event in Slovenia on Fri 6th March 2026

Police officers shot dead a man who threatened passers-by and then attacked them with knives in Fužine, a residential neighbourhood in eastern Ljubljana, on 5 March. The man died at the scene.

The Ljubljana Police Department said officers had been dispatched to the Fužine area after receiving an emergency call reporting that a person was endangering the lives of passers-by.

When officers arrived, the man attacked them with two knives.Police repeatedly ordered him to stop, but he ignored the commands and continued threatening them, Ljubljana Police Department chief Tomislav Omejec told reporters.According to Omejec, officers then used firearms "to ward off an unlawful attack on their lives." He stressed that police use firearms only as a last resort, in situations where there is an immediate threat to life.

No other people were injured in the incident. The identity of the man who was shot has not yet been confirmed.Several witnesses told the Slovenian Press Agency the man had threatened people with two knives, and other media have reported that three shots were fired in total: a warning shot followed by two shots directed at the attacker.Weapons use by police very rareSlovenian law contains very strict provisions about when an officer can use a firearm, and such events are exceedingly rare.

They can only use them if lives are directly at risk and the threat cannot be warded off with non-lethal means.

In 2023, 2024 and the first half of 2025, the latest period for which official police data are available, not a single shot had been fired by any member of the police force, not even a warning shot.

The most shots fired in an entire year was eight, in 2015, but this was in a single incident where a man was shooting at police with an automatic rifle and special forces took him down.

Omejec said all standard procedures would be followed to determine whether the use of firearms was lawful and to clarify the circumstances surrounding the incident.