Eight remain in hospital after Kyiv shooting: mayor
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that eight people, including a child, who were injured in the shooting attack that killed six people in Kiev, were being treated in hospital.
A Russian-born man barricaded himself in a supermarket with hostages after opening fire on passersby with an automatic rifle on Saturday, where he was shot dead by police.
Police raided the supermarket after a 40-minute unsuccessful attempt to negotiate with the suspect, but officers were initially filmed fleeing the scene, leading to the resignation of a police chief.
Klitschko said that the condition of the injured child, whose parents died in the attack, was in fair condition, while the condition of one of the adults was critical.
“They are all receiving all necessary medical care,” the mayor said on Telegram.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that 14 people were injured in a shooting attack in the leafy Holosiivskyi district of the capital.
The supermarket has been cordoned off and remains closed.
Bullet holes can be seen in the supermarket’s windows, and blood stains can be seen nearby.
The flowers were left near a residential building a few hundred meters from the supermarket where the shooter shot his first victims.
Local resident Daryna, 31, told Reuters: “I saw people taking children from the playground and running away. They shouted ‘Run, hide’.”
“People didn’t understand what happened. They said there was a man there, a man shooting a machine gun.”
Such shootings are extremely rare in Ukraine, and the country’s security agency said the incident was being investigated as an act of terrorism.
Police have not yet determined the cause of the crime.
Yevhen Zhukov, head of the Ukrainian Patrol Police, a section of the country’s police force whose job is to patrol the streets, resigned Sunday after a video appeared on social media showing patrol officers running away after hearing gunshots, leaving civilians unprotected.
Reuters could not independently verify the video.
“Police officers behaved unprofessionally and shamefully. As police officers, they should have helped and saved our citizens. But they failed to assess the situation correctly and endangered civilians,” Zhukov was quoted as saying by online media outlet RBC Ukraine. he said.
“I have decided to submit my resignation from my current position as a combat officer,” Zhukov said. he added.
Earlier on Sunday, minister Klymenko said the officers’ behavior was “a shame for the whole system”.
An investigation has been launched against his superiors and a decision will be made.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the shooting of civilians not far from the center of Kiev raises questions about both the public’s right to self-defense and how the gunman was able to obtain a firearms permit.
“The attacker’s mental state was clearly unstable. How he obtained the necessary health certificates to renew his weapons permit should be thoroughly investigated,” Klymenko said. he said.
He said the ministry plans to prepare the final version of the bill on civilian firearms, as he is sure that “people should have the right to armed self-defense.”
Currently, Ukrainians can only own hunting weapons.
