Three murder suspects killed in Moscow courthouse shootout

Update: Initial reports claimed that four suspects were killed in the shootout. Police later clarified that only three men died.

Three suspects in the “GTA gang” trial were murdered in Moscow on Tuesday, after a shootout erupted in the courthouse, according to the news agency RIA Novosti. Two detained individuals were also seriously wounded.

Early reports claim that the suspects attacked their guards in one of the courthouse’s elevators, and seized their weapons. According to the television station NTV, the guards were not fatally wounded. The news agency Interfax later reported that none of the wounded men or women were shot.

The court’s spokesperson told reporters that the entire courthouse was evacuated after the shootout, but people have already been invited back into the building.

• Nine members of the so-called “GTA gang” are charged with committing 17 murders and several other violent crimes between 2012 and 2014, when the group attacked motorists on the highways surrounding Moscow.