Police fatally shoot aggressive man in Lääne County
An aggressive man was shot dead by the police in Lääne County, Estonia, late on Sunday evening. The 28-year old man was wounded and died of his injuries at the site of the incident.
The Emergency Response Center was informed at around 10 p.m. on Sunday about a group of around ten people spending time near a residential building in Ridala, Lääne County. According to the caller, a drunk man in the group had driven a vehicle into a ditch, after which he began picking a fight with the rest of the people in the group and physically assaulting some of them.
A police patrol responded to the call and after their arrival at the site, the 28-year-old man also became aggressive towards the police officers. The man refused to comply with orders by the police and, according to the information currently available, attacked them with a bat.
According to preliminary information, one of the police officers fired a warning shot to stop the man in the yard of the private residence; however, the man did not respond to it and continued his attack, in the course of which he and the police officers exited the yard and moved several dozens of meters away from it onto a road next to the house.
The attacker then hit one of the police officers in the head with a bat, after which another police officer fired several shots in the man's direction from their service weapon.
The man was severely wounded as a result of the shots. The police officers provided first aid to the man and resuscitated him until the arrival of paramedics who then continued the effort; however, the man died of his injuries at the site of the incident.
The police officer who was attacked by the man also sustained injuries and was first aid was provided to him.
An analysis of safety tactics is to be carried out to comprehensively assess the incident.
"We are currently clarifying the details of the incident and have launched criminal proceedings into the case to determine all circumstances of the events last night. The use of a service weapon against a person must be justified and our goal is to gain clarity in the course of the criminal proceedings on the incident that occurred last night and check if the police officer's actions were justified," said Elle Keemann, the prosecutor of the West District Prosecutor's Office leading the proceedings.
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Editor: Kristjan Kallaste
