YEREVAN (A.W.)—A police officer was shot dead on July 30, in the ongoing standoff with the armed “Sasna Tsrer” group, which has occupied a Yerevan police station since July 17. The spokesperson for the Armenian police Ashot Aharonian said that Yura Tepanosian (b. 1986) was killed by sniper gun fire while sitting in a police car parked over 1,000 feet away from the seized police compound.
The shooting took place a couple of hours after the ultimatum issued by Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) to the armed gunmen expired. The NSS had given the armed oppositionists until 5 p.m. on July 30 to surrender themselves to law enforcement authorities before large-scale maneuvers would begin.
Tepanosian is the second police officer to be killed in the ongoing occupation of the police station. Colonel Artur Vanoyan was killed when the armed opposition group stormed the police station on July 17.
A day earlier, on the night of July 19, riot police clashed with hundreds of people near the police compound. Several injuries of protesters, police officers, and journalists were reported following the clashes.
“Sasna Tsrer” mercenaries need to be wiped out.
Wow… What kind of a highly trained, professional sniper the armed gunmen have in their midst, who was able to hit the target sitting in a police car from a surrounded compound 1,000 feet away… Unbelievable.
It’s almost like some Armenians want to turn the Republic into Ukraine 2.0. They are causing violence in order to give other countries an excuse for a foreign intervention.
Horrifying. Shame on them for killing the young police officer. They have brought upon themselves whatever is coming their way. I just hope no more police officers lose their lives cleaning out this group of scum.