Police officer shoots two teenagers

A teenager has died in hospital after a traffic police officer opened fire on two high school students during a suspected drink-driving incident on Sunday. The policeman has been detained.

According to the local prosecutor’s office, the incident took place on October 25 in the village of Kyzyk-Mazhalyk. It is the second shooting incident involving policemen during the last month in the Russian Republic of Tyva. The traffic police officer stopped a car driven by a high school student whose girlfriend was in the passenger seat. Suspected of drink-driving, the boy was asked to leave the car.

The teenager protested and, while voicing his anger, allegedly took a pistol-like object out of his pocket. The reaction of the police officer followed swiftly – he produced his own firearm and fired. The bullet passed through the boy’s neck and hit the passenger, a 17-year-old girl who was studying at the same school.

Both teenagers were taken to hospital. The boy died a few days later and the injured girl remains in intensive care.

Later tests of the victims’ blood have found no traces of alcohol. A criminal lawsuit for abuse of power has been opened against the police officer.

A previous “abuse of power” incident in the region took place on October 24. A police officer, who was caught drunk in his car, opened fire on his colleagues while being escorted to the police station. One officer died and another was injured. Shortly after the shooting, the gunman committed suicide using the same weapon.

There has been a frightening increase in violence performed by law enforcement officers in recent months. A few weeks ago, a 21-year-old criminal police officer in Omsk killed his girlfriend and taxi driver, and ended up shooting himself.

On October 2, two brothers, one working for the Department of Internal Affairs and another assisting the local prosecutor, decided to resolve their problems with their friends violently in a restaurant in the city of Samara. Three people were seriously injured in the resulting fracas.

The most outrageous crime in this bloody wave of police mayhem is the massacre committed by Moscow police officer Denis Yevsyukov last April.

During the night of his 31st birthday, Yevsyukov went on a rampage, opening fire first on his taxi driver and passersby on the street, and then shooting indiscriminately in a supermarket. Two people were shot dead and another six were wounded in the events.