Four twenty in the morning. A street in Tetovo, sleeping neighbours, a family home. And a man on a moped who stops, pulls out an assault rifle and empties a burst into the façade. Then rides off. Six rounds were left on the asphalt - collected for forensic analysis.

According to the report filed with Tetovo police, the attack happened on 8 August at around 04:20. An unidentified man on a moving moped fired several rounds from an assault rifle at the family home of Š.B., 48, then left the scene.

The inspection found damage to the metal yard gate, the façade of the house, the garden pavilion and a parked BMW. So this was not a warning shot into the air - the house was the target, the yard, everything belonging to the family. That nobody was hit is a matter of luck, not intent.

Police say they are taking measures to clear up the case and find the perpetrator. That is the standard phrasing, and it is exactly as informative as it sounds. No motive, no suspect, no direction - not publicly, at least.

And that is the part that should worry anyone living in that neighbourhood. An assault rifle at four in the morning in a residential area is not the impulsive move of an angry neighbour. It is a message, delivered in a way that requires a weapon, a moped and prior knowledge of where a specific man lives. When messages like that get sent on a street at night, the next question is not who sent it - it is who received it and what they will send back.

The weaponry that makes a scene like this possible does not appear overnight. It is an inventory that has been circulating through the region for decades and that surfaces in exactly these moments. That six rounds ended up in a façade instead of in a person is the difference between a damaged house and a funeral. Chance decided that difference - not the police, not the law and not prevention.