Four armed robbers who broke into a Tula region home were caught by surprise when the 52-year-old owner defended his wife and five children by fighting back with a kitchen knife, killing three of them, investigators Sunday.
The robbers — identified as residents of the Moscow region — entered the home of the unidentified businessman in the town of Bogorditsk in the Tula region, just south of Moscow, on Saturday night, the Investigative Committee said in a statement.
Wielding a gun, knife and baseball bat, they demanded money from the businessman, who was at home with his wife, adult daughter and four young children, the youngest of whom was born in 2005, RIA-Novosti reported.
But the businessman grabbed a kitchen knife and lunged at the attackers.
"According to preliminary information about the robbery, the owner of the house fought back, resulting in three attackers suffering fatal injuries and dying at the scene," said Vladimir Markin, spokesman for the Investigative Committee, Interfax reported. "One of the attackers managed to escape. Measures have been taken to arrest him."
The businessman has been hospitalized with unspecified injuries, while his family received medical treatment and were sent home.
Markin said investigators hope to establish what happened in the house and have opened a murder investigation —? which may or may not lead to charges being filed against the businessman. Murder changes can carry a prison sentence of 20 years to life.