Mystery Lingers in Case of Sopron Sofőr Shot for €40

Police are still trying to piece together the details of the savage murder of Antal Károly Hegedűs, a 57-year-old taxi driver (sofőr) who was shot in Sopron last Friday by two unknown assailants. According to ma.hu, the cops are looking for two 20-to-30-year-old men, who called for a taxi from a phone booth at 22:37 on the night of the crime. Hegedűs picked them up at 22:45, and was shot twice in the head sometime thereafter, and relieved of the Ft 10,000 (just under €40) he was believed to have been carrying. While the bullets that killed Hegedűs passed through the windshield, police are trying their luck with DNA samples from the taxi, and have offered a reward of Ft 1 million (just under €4,000) for information resulting in the twisted killers being brought to justice.

Sadly, the slaying of Hegedűs was not exceptional. Since the political changes in 1990, 16 taxi drivers have been murdered in Hungary, the most recent taxisgyilkosság having gone down in Tatabánya last September. Meanwhile, some of the most notorious sofőrgyilkosok have either gotten away, or gotten away with a wrist-slapping. To underscore the crisis, a convoy of taxis from Budapest drove to Hegedűs's funeral, which was held yesterday.