Two people were killed and four were injured when a gunman opened fire inside a public services office in Moscow on Tuesday, city authorities said.
“As a result of the shooting by an unknown person, two people were killed,” the mayor of the Russian capital, Sergei Sobyanin, said on Twitter.
The Russian interior ministry said the attacker was a 45-year-old Moscow resident and that he had been taken to a police station.
Deputy mayor Anastasia Rakova said two employees of the centre — “an administrator and a security guard” — were killed in the shooting.
She said four people were injured, including a 10-year-old girl. The child was in a “serious” condition and had been taken to a children’s hospital. Three wounded adults were being operated on, Rakova said in a statement on Telegram.
The incident took place at a multi-functional government office that deals with a variety of administrative issues in south-eastern Moscow.
Rakova said the Ryazansky Public Offices Centre’s staff and visitors were “immediately” evacuated when the shooting started at around 3:00 pm Moscow time (1200 GMT).
In a statement, the Russian interior ministry said the man entered the centre “and started firing at the citizens there, after which he tried to hide.”
A law enforcement officer who was at the scene “managed to catch and neutralise the attacker,” the ministry said, quoting its representative Irina Volk.
Several agencies also reported that the attacker was a former military serviceman.
The shooter’s identity and his motivations have not yet been disclosed.Russia’s Investigative Committee — which probes major crimes — launched a criminal investigation into the shooting. —Agencies
