Russian authorities say a soldier shot and killed three fellow servicemen with an automatic weapon during target practice in the country's Far East and fled the scene with his weapon.
Two other soldiers were injured in the incident at a military firing range in the Amur region, Russia's federal Investigative Committee said in a September 29 statement, adding that the suspected shooter remained at large.
The committee's military investigations department has opened a murder case, the statement said.
The suspect fired his weapon at a group of soldiers "waiting to leave the firing line," the Investigative Committee said.
The local administration of the city of Belogorsk, where the shooting range is located, identified the suspect as Gasan Abdulakhadov, a 23-year-old native of Russia's Daghestan region in the North Caucasus.
Belogorsk Mayor Stanislav Melyukov said on September 29 that police were searching for a suspect in military uniform who was armed with an automatic weapon and four magazines of ammunition.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has dispatched a commission to the scene in connection with the killings, his ministry said in a statement.
The Investigative Committee did not indicate a possible motive. The Defense Ministry statement said that "all versions" were being examined, including the possibility that the shooter had a "nervous breakdown."
The Belogorsk mayor's office said Abdulakhadov had joined the unit on September 21.
