Peter Sammut, 61, from Qormi, was on Wednesday found crawling to the back door to a family residence in Lija, that he often used to frequent. It is understood that Mr Sammut was a close friend of a family that lives in Preziosi Street, Lija. A female member of the family found him bleeding heavily, trying to make his way to the back door.

Sources said that Mr Sammut had been shot twice, once to the neck and once to the waist.

The curious thing about the shooting is that one wound was to one side of the body, while the other was on the opposite side. Police sources said that there were definitely two separate gun shot wounds. Ballistics tests have excluded that the two wounds were caused by one and the same shot. Police are also excluding the possibility that one wound was caused on entry of the bullet while the other was caused on exit.

The suspected weapon used was a semi-automatic rifle, which belonged to Mr Sammut himself, police said. The police seem to be considering accidental shooting as a valid possible cause of injury. However, they are not excluding foul play and a number of people have been subjected to gunshot residue and other forensic tests.

Various people are helping the police with their inquiries and an official magisterial inquiry is also underway, but there is no prime suspect as yet. A police source said they will not know what happened for sure until Mr Sammut is able to tell them.

However, the source said that police were considering the possibility that the man could have been cleaning or fiddling with the gun and it accidentally went off. “He is still in a critical condition, but he has not worsened. If his condition remains the same, he could begin to recover. The first 48 hours are the most critical when it comes to gunshot wounds,” said the source.