Police refuse to name suspect as unconfirmed report suggests possible blood feud in mayor’s murder
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Armenian authorities have neither confirmed nor denied a local media report claiming, citing an anonymous source, that law enforcement has apprehended the suspect in the murder of Parakar Mayor Volodya Grigoryan and an off-duty police officer.
The shooting around midnight on Tuesday also left another person wounded. CCTV footage obtained from the scene shows Mayor Grigoryan and two men standing outside a home near a highway in Merdzavan when a masked gunman opens fire with an automatic weapon, killing Grigoryan and off-duty policeman Karen Abrahamyan, who was his personal friend. The shooter is seen approaching the unresponsive mayor and striking him with the weapon.
Ministry of Internal Affairs spokesperson Narek Sargsyan did not confirm the report on Friday.
“We have no news as of this moment. The investigative actions continue,” Sargsyan told Armenpress when asked to comment on the MediaHub report.
MediaHub’s report indicates that the killing may have been part of a blood feud.
According to the outlet, the suspect is the brother of a man who was shot dead earlier this year in Parakar — a man who was also the cousin of the town’s former mayor, Mher Akhtoyan. One of the individuals arrested in connection with that earlier killing was reportedly the late Volodya Grigoryan’s brother, according to MediaHub.