7-year-old child shot his father, a police officer, with the officer's duty weapon (update)

A 7-year-old child killed his father in Plovdiv, Southern Bulgaria, BNT learned from sources. The Ministry of Interior confirmed the incident, saying that the man was their employee.

The child killed his father with his police gun, at his workplace. The incident took place at around 5pm on August 12.

The police officer shot dead by his 7-year-old son in Plovdiv was Nikolai Filipov. He was 49 years old. He was a shooting instructor at the Specialised Police Unit in the city.

Caretaker Minister of Interior Kalin Stoyanov has demanded the resignation of the director of the regional directorate of the Ministry of Interior in Plovdiv.

How the child got hold of his father's duty weapon is still unclear and why he was in the Specialised Police Force building, where there were training sessions this afternoon.

The tragic incident took place shortly afterwards in what is known as the rest and personal effects storage room.

The police officer was married with two children. His wife also works in the Ministry of Interior.

The District Prosecutor's Office - Plovdiv started to work on the case, pre-trial proceedings have been initiated. Inspections are being carried out, forensic examinations will be conducted and numerous witnesses will be interviewed.

The incident took place in the building of the Specialised Police Unit at the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Interior in the city.

"Most of the officers were in the room where conversations take place and heard a gunshot fired. As they walked out into the hallway, where the lockers for personal belongings are, they noticed their colleague's child holding a handgun. They talked with him, calmly seized the gun, informed management, and found a fatality at the scene. I cannot give details about the weapon at this stage, because this is the subject of the investigation and only those in charge of the investigation and the supervising prosecutor have the right handle this data," said Senior Commissioner Georgi Chergov, director of the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Interior in Plovdiv.

BNT: Will you resign?

"I immediately informed the Minister of the Interior about the incident, I am ready to take whatever responsibility the Minister decides," said Senior Commissioner Georgi Chergov.

"An inspection of the scene has been carried out, witnesses are being interviewed. In the presence of a psychologist and the mother the necessary actions with the child have been carried out. The investigation will take a long time, there are many other actions that need to be carried out, but this cannot be done within a short period of time," added Vanya Hristeva, district prosecutor of Plovdiv.