Video After The Jump

Bulgarinan party leader Ahmed Dogan is lucky to have escaped serious injury today after a man attempted to shoot him while he was speaking in Sofia, Bulgaria.

A man approached Dogan, the leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedom, while he was delivering a speech and pointed a gas pistol at his head. The gun appears to jam, giving Dogan time to knock the man's hand away before he could fire the weapon.

Other delegates rushed the stage and wrestled the man, identified by police as 25-year-old Oktai Enimehmedov, to the ground. TV footage later shows several men punching and stomping Enimehmedov as he lay on the ground.

Enimehmedov was armed with the gas pistol and two knives according to The Mirror. A gas pistol is a non-lethal weapon used for self-defense, but experts say when fired from close range it can cause life-threatening injuries.

Police arrested Enimehmedov and took him to a hospital. It wasn't immediately clear if he sustained serious injuries. Officials are still trying to figure out how he got past security to enter the hall with nearly 3,000 people attending.

Bulgarian officials said that the 58-year old Dogan was not harmed.

"Ahmed Dogan is in good health. Everything is under control," MRF official Ceyhan Ibryamov told Reuters on Saturday.

Watch the dramatic footage below.

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