Russian police have launched a murder investigation after a renowned architect was shot and killed in front of his 10-year-old daughter in St. Petersburg on Wednesday morning, with unconfirmed reports claiming the shooter may have recently returned from the war in Ukraine.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said it found the bodies of two men aged 49 and 73 with gunshot wounds in an apartment building in the city center. Police are looking into the circumstances of the killing and the motives of the shooter.
The law enforcement agency published a video showing investigators examining a body lying near an elevator, followed by a search of a burned-out and flooded apartment. Police did not name the victims or provide further details.
The news outlets Fontanka and 47news identified the victim as Alexander Suponitsky, an architect known for his work on several of St. Petersburg’s metro stations and public buildings.
The reports claimed Suponitsky was confronted by a man carrying an assault rifle when he was leaving his apartment to take his 10-year-old daughter to school.
The gunman reportedly forced both the architect and his daughter to kneel before shooting Suponitsky in the back of the head. The daughter was unharmed and fled to her father’s apartment.
Shortly after the shooting, smoke was seen coming from another apartment one floor below. Firefighters extinguished a blaze and found the body of a man believed to be the gunman, who reportedly died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The news outlets, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, identified the alleged shooter as Konstantin Kozyrev, a 49-year-old former executive at a major St. Petersburg construction firm. In 2015, Kozyrev was investigated in a high-profile tax fraud case related to a residential project for Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
The media reports suggested Kozyrev may have recently returned from serving in Russia’s war against Ukraine and may have had a personal conflict with Suponitsky.
The Moscow Times was unable to independently verify those reports.
Suponitsky was the chairman of the SUART architectural group and a member of the Soviet-era Union of Architects.
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