TULA, Russia — Additional police have been deployed in the western Russian city of Tula after outraged residents threatened to lynch a man suspected of beating to death five members of a local family, RFE/RL’s Russian Service reports.
Police say that the 26-year-old man confessed to killing his girlfriend, Mariya Shkarupa, 35, her mother, and her three sons, aged three, five, and nine. The suspect, who has not been named, was arrested on Wednesday (August 3).
When the suspect was brought to the crime scene on August 4, residents gathered outside the apartment building and threatened to kill him, RFE/RL reported. Additional police were deployed to ensure his safety.
The bodies of the murder victims were found on August 1. Regional Interior Ministry head Andrei Mishagin told journalists on August 3 that the victims were killed on July 25. He said they had been beaten to death.
Police say the suspect confessed to the murders and also admitted robbery. He showed investigators where he stashed articles taken from his girlfriend’s apartment.
Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev expressed gratitude on August 3 to the Tula police department for solving the case swiftly.
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