A senior investigator in Russia’s Perm region died by suicide days after a rare campus shooting claimed six lives and left dozens injured, Russian media reported Thursday.
The body of Sergei Sarapultsev, who headed the Russian Investigative Committee’s Perm region branch, was found dead in his home.
On Monday, an 18-year-old Perm State University student killed six people and wounded nearly 30 on campus in one of the worst attacks of its kind in recent history.
“The Investigative Committee’s central office is carrying out a procedural check on the death of colonel of justice S.Yu. Sarapultsev,” the law enforcement body’s spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko told the state-run TASS news agency.
According to Baza, a Telegram news channel with links to Russian security services, Sarapultsev took his own life after a briefing in which several Perm-based investigators were allegedly taken off the mass shooting case.
The outlet did not indicate whether Sarapultsev, who has headed the regional branch of the Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, since 2018, was also removed from the Perm State University case.
Alexander Bastrykin, head of the federal Investigative Committee, appointed a 50-strong team of investigators from across Russia during his visit to Perm in the wake of the campus shooting.
The Kommersant business daily reported that Bastrykin had “a range of questions for Sarapultsev” as early as Sept. 7 over issues with observing the rights of joint property owners in the region.
Citing an unnamed source, Interfax reported that Sarapultsev may have killed himself due to family issues.
