KYIV, Ukraine — A gunman who killed a minimum of six folks in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, earlier than taking hostages and barricading himself inside a grocery store on Saturday has been shot and killed by police, Ukrainian officers mentioned.
Ukraine’s particular tactical police models stormed the shop after makes an attempt to contact the gunman with a negotiator failed, the top of Ukraine’s Inside Ministry, Ihor Klymenko, mentioned in an announcement on social media. The attacker was killed whereas resisting arrest, he mentioned.
Chatting with reporters on the scene, Klymenko mentioned that the gunman had killed 4 bystanders whereas on the road, earlier than coming into the grocery store and killing a fifth particular person.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko mentioned {that a} sixth sufferer, a younger lady, died from her accidents within the hospital.
An Related Press reporter on the scene noticed the our bodies of the victims on the street coated by emergency blankets earlier than they had been taken away.
Klymenko mentioned the shooter was born in 1968 however gave no additional particulars as to his identification. Police negotiators spoke with the attacker for roughly 40 minutes earlier than storming the constructing, he mentioned.
Earlier than the gunman was shot, a feminine police negotiator, carrying physique armor and standing behind an armored automobile, used a loudspeaker to name out to the assailant, urging him: “the persons are to not blame for this. Please, allow them to go and we’ll discuss with you.”
“We tried to steer him, realizing that there was probably a wounded particular person inside. We even supplied to usher in tourniquets to cease the bleeding, however he didn’t reply,” Klymenko mentioned. “Consequently, the order was given to neutralize him.”
Klymenko, who wore physique armor, mentioned the person was carrying a carbine. The short-barrel assault rifle was legally registered, he added.
Final December, the assailant “approached the licensing authorities to have the weapon test-fired because the allow was expiring. He supplied a medical certificates. He had additionally submitted an software to resume his allow for the weapon. That’s all we are able to say for now,” Klymenko mentioned.
He added that the investigation will decide which medical establishment issued the certificates.
The taking pictures came about in Kyiv’s Holosiivskyi district, the mayor mentioned. Televised footage of the scene confirmed police taking cowl within the shopping center that housed the grocery store whereas pictures had been fired. Bystanders had been escorted away from the scene.
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Related Press author Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, contributed to this report.
