After 7-year-old child shot his father, a police officer, with the officer's duty weapon: Chief of police in Plovdiv to step down from the post

"A very serious and utterly unfortunate incident in which an experienced colleague of ours aged 49 lost his life. Proceedings have been initiated. Yesterday, as colleagues had assignments, they also had scheduled training. The colleague had picked up his 7-year-old child and taken him to the Specialist Police Unit building. The child was in the changing rooms and where their lockers were, presumably the weapon was there too and the locker was not locked. The colleagues heard a gunshot, went to see what was happening and saw the child with a gun in his hands and the colleague fatally shot on the ground. The child and his father were alone in that room, the mother and the other child were not there. The weapon belonged to the dead policeman. The presence of a child in a restricted area is unacceptable, there are rules," caretaker Minister of Interior said on August 13.

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

According to him, there are many questions - how and for what reason a 7-year-old child was in one of the specialised structural units of the Regional Directorate, how a firearm ended up in his hands and many other circumstances.

"It will be established what the weapon was. I had a conversation with the director of the Regional Directorate and asked him to step down from the post, but from what I heard today - more facts, I am of the firm opinion that the head of the Security Police Department at the Regional Directorate in Plovdiv, Head of the Specialized Tactical Actions Sector should also resign, and today I have dismissed the Head of the Specialized Police Unit. Commissioner Georgi Chergov will step down from the post of Director of the Regional Directorate," added Kalin Stoyanov.

He clarified that the firearms of each officer should be in the officer's holster or in the safety box and should not be stored elsewhere.

"Psychologists are provided for the child and the mother, to talk with them, to give them the help they need. The psychologists will speak with the other police officers as well," Kalin Stoyanov said.

"I am not running away from responsibility, this is a serious incident, small compromises lead to big problems. I am aware of the responsibility that I bear as the head of the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Interior in Plovdiv, in view of taking moral responsibility, I will apply for reassignment to another suitable position, which will be decided by the management, despite the fact that there is no evidence that would lead to personal responsibility for this incident," Georgi Chergov, Director of the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Interior – Plovdiv said.