A hit man sent to kill a businessman in the Moscow region missed his target Tuesday night, giving the would-be victim enough time to return fire and shoot his attacker dead, regional investigators said Wednesday.
At around 5 a.m. Tuesday morning, the businessman showed up at the police precinct in the Moscow region town of Shyolkovo and told the duty officers that half an hour earlier a gunman had ambushed him outside the home he is building in the village of Potapovo, firing at him with a gun equipped with a silencer but somehow managing to miss, Interfax cited a law enforcement source as saying.
The man had just driven up to the gates of the house when the hit man ran up to the car and squeezed off two unsuccessful shots, according to Itar-Tass, Vesti Moskva reported.
But the target kept a cool head and grabbed a Saiga 12-gauge rifle he happened to have in the car (take note, potential contract-hit victims reading this!) and shot the attacker dead.
The intrepid crime journalists over at Life.ru have a few more details, like how the would-be victim, whom they identify as Alexei, managed to shoot the hit man directly in the heart. The cops and medics showed up quickly, but there was no way to save him.
"My husband was born under a lucky star," Alexei's wife, Natalya, told Life.ru "There were five bullet holes in the car, but he didn't have a scratch. . . . What saved him is that he is a professional hunter. He is a dead-eye."
In a surprising twist, Life.ru also informs us that police believe the attack may have been connected to Alexei's "professional activities."
After their performance this week with the Sulim Yamadayev shooting in Dubai, with daily sensational reports that the notorious Chechen strongman was still alive, I promised myself I would take everything they post with a grain of salt.
Their reporting looks solid on this, though. Check out the nice pics and video.
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