Epress.am News from Armenia
A gunman armed with explosives entered Estonia’s Defense Ministry on Thursday and opened fire, but police stormed the building and killed him, officials said. No one else was hurt, AP reports.
Many employees were seen escaping from first-floor windows as the gunman detonated a smoke bomb and fired shots in the central Tallinn building.
Defense Minister Mart Laar said authorities should investigate whether the assailant had been partially motivated by the terrorist who carried out last month’s massacre in Norway that killed 77 people.
“That is something that needs to be carefully investigated,” Laar told Estonian national broadcaster ERR. He was not in the building at the time of Thursday’s mid-afternoon attack.
Officials identified the attacker as Karen Drambjan (pictured above), a 57-year-old lawyer born in Armenia who had Estonian citizenship since the early 1990s. He was a member of the small, left-wing Estonian United Left Party that is not represented in Parliament, ministry spokesperson Peeter Kuimet said.
Officials said they knew of no possible motive, pending an investigation by the security police and the Prosecutor’s Office.
Estonian Security Police spokesperson Erik Heldna said the gunman had no connection to the ministry.
“He was killed in a gunfire exchange that took place between the assailant and police,” Heldna said, dismissing earlier reports that Drambjan had tried to take hostages.
Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip described the incident as “extremely regrettable,” saying Drambjan had a “substantial amount” of explosives and rounds of ammunition on him.
“From the bottom of my heart, I extend my thanks to all of those people who helped solve this situation,” Ansip told reporters.
The attacker, who was known to the police but had no criminal record, fired several shots with a pistol but was unable to move beyond the lobby, Heldna said.