Russian teacher’s family shot dead in Ingushetia

Russian authorities say they have sent the best detectives available to find the gunmen who shot dead three members of a Russian family. The attack happened in the town of Karabulak in Russia’s southern republic of Ingushetia in the early hours of Friday.

A criminal investigation has been launched into the incident.

Meantime, investigators are checking several possible scenarios. “There are a number of suspects that have committed similar crimes against ethnic Dagestanis. The killings could be aimed at disrupting the programme which allows Russian nationals to return, and at destabilising the situation in the Republic,” Yury Turygin, Chief  Prosecutor of Ingushetia, stated.

On Friday, gunmen forced their way into the home of a local teacher, Vera Dragonchuk, in the town of Karabulak. Her husband, Anatoly, and 24-year-old son, Mikhail, died immediately. The other son, 20-year-old, Denis, a university student, died on the way to hospital. The teacher, Vera Dragonchuk, escaped by jumping out of the window.

“I did not see any of it. I got out of there right away. My brother was sleeping and he did not hear anything. He got out only later when he heard cries. Everything happened so quickly, it lasted no longer than three minutes. It was unimaginably quick, and when I got out, there was already nobody in the yard,” Vera Dragonchuk explained.

Boris Tonkogubov, a relative of the victims, who was in a nearby house at the time of the attack, believes a silencer must have been used as he did not hear any shots.

“By the time I ran out it was too late. There were no cars in the street or any men running away. They must have used a silencer because I didn’t hear any shots. I was only woken up when I heard my sister screaming and crying,” he said.

Prosecutors are saying the attack may have been in revenge for the death of a suspected militant field commander shot dead on Thursday during a police operation.

Another versionis that the murders were committed by the gang that killed another school teacher, Lyudmila Teryokhina, and her son and daughter in their home in the village of Ordzhonikidzevskaya in July. At their funeral two days later, a bomb went off at the cemetery leaving 11 people injured.