‘He was not radical’: Slovakia tries to make sense of Fico shooting

Mile L’udovit outside the apartment block in the central Slovakian town of Levice, where the 71-year-old former security guard and amateur poet Juraj Cintula had lived for decades. Photograph: Pjotr Sauer/The Guardian

Mile L’udovit, like other residents of the unassuming grey apartment block on the outskirts of the sleepy central Slovakian town of Levice, considered Juraj Cintula a reliable neighbour and friend.

Having lived side by side with him for more than 40 years, L’udovit could never have imagined the 71-year-old former security guard and amateur poet would be suspected of perpetrating the worst political attack in Slovakian modern history – shooting the prime minister multiple times at point-blank range.