Tirana. Photo: Flickr

Tirana was shocked on Tuesday by reports of Monday night’s massive shoot-out in a nightclub in which four people were killed.

Three Albanians, Edison Jaho, 36, Enea Xhaj, 38, Arbër Demiraj, 19, were found dead at the scene. A fourth victim, an Italian citizen, Giaampaolo Azzola, 53, lost his life from injuries in hospital on Tuesday morning, the police said.

The police announced the arrests of three suspects, one of whom, Konstadin Xhuvani, 25, is the son of a ruling Socialist Party PM Luiza Xhuvani.

“Xhuvani was arrested about 70 metres away from the crime scene and attempted to run while having still having a handgun in his hand. On arrest, he resisted the police,” the police said.

Two years ago he was tried for killing a young man in in row. His mild sentence for murder caused a political furor at the time, which has now redoubled.

Gent Strazimiri, an MP from the opposition Democratic Party, accused the government of protecting criminals.

“The responsibility for the tragic massacre of four persons in the middle of Tirana and in one of the most guarded streets belong more to the highest ranking police officials, the Minister of Interior and the Prime Minister than the authors [of the crime],” Strazimiri said.

“The Prime Minister and his gang created all the facilities for the author, the son of MP Xhuvani, so that he could around move freely with a gun and run a criminal enterprise with racketeering and murder in the middle of Tirana,” he added.

The government has yet to comment on the news.