Multiple Reportedly Dead in Shooting at Russia’s FSB Security Service Headquarters
DEVELOPING
The attack in Moscow came on the same day Vladimir Putin gave his annual TV news conference—and as he attended a Security Agency Worker’s Day gala at the Kremlin.
[ What happens if Putin says the shooting was caused by Biden, the FBI, Hillary, etc and asks his Impeached Puppet to hand them all over to him? ]
Pilar Melendez Reporter
Updated Dec. 19, 2019 12:43PM ET / Published Dec. 19, 2019 11:37AM ET
REUTERS/Shamil Zhumato
Multiple people are reported to be dead in Moscow after at least one shooter opened fire Thursday evening at the highly secure headquarters of Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, according to several Russian news outlets.
Heavy gunfire erupted outside the Russian spy agency in Lubyanka Square, where social-media footage shows several police officers running near the building with assault rifles. According to Reuters, the shooting incident may have been planned to coincide Putin’s commemorative speech for Russia’s day of the security services.
“An unknown person opened fire near building #12 on the Bolshaya Lubyanka street,” the security agency said in a statement, according to the Interfax news agency. “Some people were injured.”
One witness told Reuters she had heard shots fired in the same area and sirens, gunfire, and screams were heard by several people. In addition to the FSB building, Lubyanka Square is also a busy shopping destination popular with tourists and about a five-minute drive from the Kremlin.
BNO News
?@BNONews
BREAKING: Heavy gunfire erupts near FSB building in central Moscow; reports of fatalities
9:52 AM - Dec 19, 2019
According to local news service Izvestia, as many as three people were killed in the attack, at least some of them employees of the spy agency. Two Federal Security Service personnel have also been seriously wounded, the Interfax news agency reported, citing the health ministry.
The building is in a neighborhood that is known to be in one of the most highly secured parts of Moscow.
The attack came on the same day President Vladimir Putin gave his annual televised news conference, in which he hailed Russia’s continued political stability. Putin himself is a former agent of the KGB, the predecessor agency of the FSB. As the gunfire started, he was at a gala at the Kremlin to celebrate “Security Agency Worker’s Day,” a government website reported.
“Today we honor the people who have chosen a very difficult but also very important path for the state and society; those who staunchly defend Russia’s national interests and security, uncover and neutralize internal and external threats, and protect the lives, rights and constitutional freedoms of all Russians,” Putin said in his Security Agency Worker’s Day speech.
At around 7:15 p.m. local time, the news outlet Meduza reported that FSB press officers said a gunman had also been killed, and officials were working to establish his identity. The outlet said its correspondent continued to hear gunfire in the area after that time.
Fifteen minutes later, the “siren” alert, indicating the search for an active shooter, was activated throughout the capital, according to Baza. The agency also activated their “fortress” plan—which puts all buildings in total lockdown.
Russian investigators have opened criminal proceedings into the attempted murder of law-enforcement officers after the incident, Reuters reported.
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