In Khabarovsk, a fight between drunks and police ended in shooting to kill

On Saturday, an attempt to detain two drunk Khabarovsk residents who were smashing a store window ended in a mass brawl in which the police used their service weapons. One of the attackers was wounded, the other was killed. The Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under Art. 317 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (attack on the life of a police officer).

A report that two unknown people in a state of alcoholic intoxication were breaking windows in one of the stores near the Khabarovsk bus station building was received by the police duty station on Saturday at 15:10. The private security crew that arrived at the scene found two citizens in the store premises who, as stated in the official statement of the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs, attacked the police and began to beat them. “They were joined by five people with whom they had previously drunk alcohol. The attackers did not respond to the lawful demands of the police officers to stop the fight, and then tried to take possession of their service weapons,” the Ministry of Internal Affairs said.

After warning shots, the police began shooting to kill. As a result, one of the attackers, born in 1986, received wounds to his legs, and the second, born in 1981, received a fatal wound to the chest, from which he died on the spot. The wounded man was taken to KKB-2, the remaining participants in the fight were taken to OM No. 9 of the Khabarovsk Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where “urgent investigative actions are being carried out” with them. “According to preliminary data, one of the police officers received multiple bruises and abrasions to the face, as well as a laceration of the lip; the second is suspected of having a fractured jaw and nose,” the regional Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs adds.

On Sunday morning, two nearly six-minute videos appeared on the YouTube video hosting site, filmed on a mobile phone by one of the eyewitnesses to the shooting. The first shows how the police are trying to detain two young people, and they are actively resisting. In the second video, one of the policemen first tries to immobilize a young man who is resisting and shouting: “Don’t engage in lawlessness!” Then a fight breaks out, the first shot is fired (who fires it and where it is aimed is not visible). After him, a young man, already naked to the waist, rushes at the policeman shouting: “Shoot, shoot, you!”, and the police officer retreats, pointing a gun at him. At the same time, several more young people hit the policeman randomly.

Then three shots come in a row. The video then shows how a policeman approaches and fires two more shots from a short distance - at a young man standing bent over against the wall of the kiosk. The wounded man, after standing a little longer, falls (he died a few minutes later).

The regional department of the Investigative Committee has already begun an investigation into the incident, opening a criminal case under Art. 317 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (attack on the life of a law enforcement officer, maximum sanction - up to life imprisonment). It is possible that the video will be included in the audit materials. The police assure that “the use of firearms has been previously recognized as lawful.”

Let us note that this is the second case in the last two weeks of an attack on police officers in Khabarovsk. On the night of November 22, in the suburb of the regional capital, the village of Bychikha, the traffic police crew stopped a Toyota Corolla Axio to check. The police officers were attacked by passengers and nearby local residents, about a dozen people in total. The police were taken to the hospital with injuries of varying severity.

Dmitry Shcherbakov

The rowdies were shot to death