Shocking video footage shows a Russian man gunning down a draft officer Monday to avoid being forced to join the war on Ukraine.
The disturbing clip starts with the shotgun-wielding man moving onto a small stage before opening fire just feet from a recruitment officer, who immediately collapses.
As the gunman moves toward others in the room, they all flee — with a woman giving out a terrified scream.
The footage ends with the attacker cuffed and on his knees, identifying himself to officers in the Irkutsk region of Siberia as 25-year-old Ruslan Zinin.
He shot the military commandant soon after he had given a “clumsy” pep talk for the men to go and fight in Ukraine amid a violent uprising against the ordered mobilization of 300,000 extra troops, according to The Guardian, citing local reports.
Mobilized man killed a drafting office commander in Ust-Ilimsk, Irkutsk region, Russia.
Alexandr Yeliseev, the commander, was shot four times almost point blank.
The murderer is Ruslan Zinin, born in 1997, "partially mobilized". He decided jail is better than death in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/s0IvHJZJBO
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) September 26, 2022
“Nobody is going to go anywhere,” he said moments before opening fire, according to the report.
“We’re all going home now,” he also said, according to East2West news agency.
Local officials confirmed the shooting was at the local enlistment office amid conflicting reports on the recruitment officer’s condition.
Anton Gerashchenko, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, shared the video while claiming that the officer was killed.
Other footage appeared to show a lifeless man being carried out on a stretcher.
However, Irkutsk governor Igor Kobzev said that chief enlistment officer Alexander Yeliseyev was critically wounded and is now fighting for his life as a result of the shooting, according to Moscow Times.
The governor said that he has “given instructions to strengthen security measures” while vowing that the shooter “will definitely be punished!”
“I am ashamed that this is happening at a time when, on the contrary, we should be united. We must not fight with each but against real threats,” Kobzev said.
The shooting came as other draft offices have been torched and thousands of Russians have been arrested for protesting President Vladimir Putin’s desperate measure to enlist 300,000 for his flagging war.
The gunman’s mother, Marina Zinina, told ASTRA that she knew her son had gone to the draft office but only realized he had opened fire after seeing it on the news.
“They said that there would be partial mobilization, but it turns out that they are taking everyone,” the mom told the news service, saying sh had no idea how her son got hold of the gun he used.
With Post wires
