Two men stabbed to death in Kohtla-Jarve

Photo: SCANPIX

Estonian police have detained a man who allegedly stabbed two men to death in the course of a row in the northeastern town of Kohtla-Jarve on Friday.

At 9 p.m. the police got a call saying that in the Ahtme district of Kohtla-Jarve a criminal had stabbed two men and then fled the scene. "The ambulance took the two victims to hospital but medics were not able to save their lives. Initial information suggests that the stabbing took place in the course of a quarrel," spokesperson for the Viru district prosecutor's office Katri Krall told BNS on Sunday.

The police immediately mounted a search for the criminal who was caught on Saturday morning. "It is a young man who was initially detained for 48 hours and on Monday the prosecutor will seek the court's permission to take him into custody," Krall added.

An investigation is in progress to establish the circumstances, she said.

A woman who lives near the crime scene told the daily Ohtuleht that the quarrel might have started from the criminal asking the victims for a cigarette. "We heard that he came to them asking for a smoke or some money for cigarettes. Since they answered him very rudely he seized a knife from his bag and first stabbed Andrei. He remained lying on the grass there. The wounds were so severe that we feared the worst," the woman said.

Several clients of a nearby cafeteria saw the stabbing and ran outside but didn't dare to intervene. Someone told the suspect to stop after which he started to repack his bag. But the other man ran to his friend lying on the ground, took out a phone and began to make a call. This set the criminal off again and he attacked the second person, said the witness. After the second attack the stabber packed his bag and walked away.

The man could be facing life imprisonment under the Penal Code.