A pensioner allegedly ranting and raving about price-gouging because a store wanted to charge more for a bottle of cognac than the sticker price was shot dead by a security guard on Monday afternoon in the northwest Russian city of Veliky Novgorod.
The 73-year-old had wanted to buy a bottle of cognac that was marked as 700 rubles ($20) in the large Magnit chain grocery store around 4 p.m., but when he got to the register, the cashier told him that the actual price was higher, media reports said, citing police.
Furious, the man started yelling at the cashier and then a security guard who came to intervene. He drew a knife and managed to slash the guard, who responded by shooting him in the head and chest with an air gun, the reports said.
The pensioner died at the scene. The security guard was detained and faces charges of murder by exceeding the limits of plausible self-defense.
See related story:
Getting By as a Pensioner in Moscow Isn't Easy (Photo Essay)
