Shots in Lasnamäe lead to shooter’s body

For the 48 hours from Monday ninth to Wednesday night, Northern Prefecture crimes department worked frantically, nonstop. The danger of a crazed murderer loose in the streets of Tallinn being too real to resort to routine investigations.

Personal data of all night-watchmen living in the area were processed. The possibility of the man, on Monday night shooting a young man in the head for no apparent reason at Lasnamäe’s Vana-Kuuli bust stop, being on his way to, or home from, a night shift being rather realistic.

Corpse in shrubs

Testimonies were provided by helpful people. Analysing the statements into the wee hours, investigators arrived at the conclusion of two shots – and not one – having obviously been fired in the location, that fateful night.

This being based on the divergence of timings of the shots: people testifying of hearing a single shot, the timings still differing slightly. To check the possibility of the shooter committing suicide nearby, the investigators returned to the crime scene Tuesday afternoon and started combing the wastes behind the bus stop. 

A dog trained in searching for bodies was engaged. The days being extremely hot, it was reasonable to assume that the dog would smell the body – in case there was one.

The 40 minute search was crowned with success. There came a moment when the body-dog took a bee line to the shrubs at the back of the wasteland, crossed a path littered with broken glass, and led the police straight to the body of the murderer.

The murderer, whose identity is known to the police, was lying about 400 metres from the bus stop. Obviously, he had hid there, in the bushes, immediately after committing the crime, soon thereafter taking his own life as well.

People alone would have had difficulty finding the body, as its location was farther off from the pathways nearby. Next to the body, the weapon presumably used for murder was also found – not a sawn-off shotgun as supposed. The man having shot himself in the head.

The facial damages to the 21 years old youth, killed at the bus stop, and those of the older man found in the bushes, were so similar as to allow it to be concluded: with high probability, they are caused by the same firearm.

Initial version

The body of the supposed murderer being found does not mean police are finished with the task.

«Now, we will have to clarify the motive of the murder. The reason why blood was thus shed, at the bust stop,» said Leho Laur, head of serious and criminal offences division at Northern Prefecture.

According to the initial version the murderer may have concluded that the young man at the bus stop, laughing in the company of a young lady of his acquaintance, was poking fun at him, therefore putting a bullet into his head without warning. Now that the person of the murderer is known, investigators will be checking whether the parties involved had prior conflicts or whether there were any other reasons for such an extreme act to be committed.