Five days after a waiter in Elbasan was beaten up to death by a client after an instant conflict, the Police have declared the suspected perpetrator wanted. 

Erjon Llapushi, with a criminal record, has been declared nationally wanted, after he beat up to death 50-year-old Gazmend Kurmaku with fists and hard objects, because the latter told him that the table where Llapushi was sitting as a client was reserved. 

During the fight, the 50-year-old crashed his head into a piece of concrete, ending in clinical death. Kurmaku passed away on Thursday at the Trauma Hospital in Tirana where he was transferred on the night of the event. 

Police are also conducting searches in the city of Pogradec, where Llapushi lives. Elbasan police have interrogated the businessman and other employees of the restaurant, while security camera footage has also been seized. 

The criminal past of the perpetrator:

Erjon Llapushi is a well-known name for the Police. On May 5 last year, Operation Force Operation also landed in Pogradec and among the names it asked for clarifications on the property was Llapushi. At that time, he was in detention cells, as he was suspected of being part of a structured criminal group, which through blackmail and violence, forced the businessmen of Pogradec to donate their shares. 

Erjon Llapushi turns out to have alienated a part of the shares of businesses by donating them to third parties, also with criminal records. In the whitewashed testimonies of the shareholders of the companies, the brutality with which the members of the gang acted, in order for them to sign the contracts for the donation of shares, is explained to the investigators. 

In December 2018, two business brothers asked for help from the Police, which later led to the arrest of Llapushi two months later. Meanwhile, on May 29, 2021, he was handcuffed as part of Operation Perimeter after being caught transporting 24 illegal immigrants to the Pogradec area. 

It is still unknown how Llapushi regained his freedom for a period of time within a few months. The police report on that case states that Llapushi was also convicted of injuries in 2008, an event that took place in a bar in Pogradec. On May 1, 2007, Llapushi attempted suicide.