Russia's ambassador to Turkey was shot dead today when a lone gunman fired at him at a photo exhibition in Ankara, Turkey's capital, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman confirmed to ABC News. The attack was caught on camera.
Andrey Karlov, the ambassador, died from his wounds, she said, adding that Russia was calling the shooting a terrorist attack.
“Don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria. Don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria," the gunman yelled in Turkish during the attack. "Until these places are safe you will not taste any safety either.”
Images of the gunman, who has been identified as Mevlut Mert Altintas, show a thin man with dark hair gripping his pistol tightly with both hands.
Altintas, 22, was a member of the riot police in Ankara, which enabled him to enter the building through the use of his police ID card, according to Interior Ministry sources.
Burhan Ozbilici, a photographer for The Associated Press, witnessed the shooting, and wrote an account of it for the agency.
"The event was routine enough -- the opening of an exhibit of photographs of Russia — and when a man on stage pulled out a gun I thought it was a theatrical flourish," Ozbilici wrote about the incident. "It was anything but. Moments later the Russian ambassador was sprawled on the floor and the attacker was waving his gun at the rest of us, shouting slogans."
Altintas was ultimately killed by the Turkish anti-terror police, the Interior Ministry said. The ambassador was already dead by the time he arrived at the hospital, they added.
Three other people were injured during the incident but are said to be recovering.
Altintas' mother and sister were taken into custody in the city of Izmir after the shooting.
No comments:
Post a Comment