In the morning on Wednesday, 13 April, Latvian State Police detained the suspect in the case regarding yesterday’s murder committed in the woods not far from Akropole Alfa shopping mall, as reported by the police.
In the evening on Tuesday, 12 April, police received information about a domestic conflict involving four people walking in the woods and the attacker.
During this conflict the attacker used an unregistered firearm to shoot one of the men dead. According to information available to the police, the shooter also shot at the other men, but they managed to escape. One of them, however, was shot in the shoulder. The injured man was provided with medical assistance and has been since discharged from hospital.
The attacker left the scene of the crime. Police then initiated the plan Trap to apprehend him.
Police received photos of the suspect. These photos were quickly distributed among the residents to identify the man.
Thanks to information provided by residents, the man’s identity was determined within two hours, and police started checking addresses associated with him. At 06:00 a.m. on Wednesday officers of the Special Operations Battalion together with Criminal Police successfully detained the suspect.
The detained man was born in 1967 and has no previous criminal record. Police commenced a criminal procedure for attempted murder of two or more people. This crime is punishable with 15 to 20 years in prison or life sentence.
A video fragment is available on the internet. It was likely filmed by one of the men who were attacked. The image showing the attacker was used by the police to identify the shooter.
The fragment of the video shows an intense verbal exchange between the shooter and the four men.
It is possible the men knew the man is armed, and they wanted him to leave it.
The filmed conversation implies the men heard the shooter fire rounds in the woods, so they pointed it out. The shooter, however, pretended nothing happened.