On 30 June 2023, a man shot and killed two people and injured another at the

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Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

after he was denied entry into the country. The perpetrator was then shot and apprehended by security forces and died of his injuries three days later.

Attack

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source said that the passenger arrived from

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and that he used firearms against the border guards. The Moldovan news website ''NewsMaker'', citing unnamed officials, said a man took a gun from a border police officer after he was taken to a no-entry zone. He killed an employee of the General Inspectorate of the Customs Service of the Republic of Moldova and an employee of the Airport Security Service. Another person, a passenger, was injured and hospitalized. According to some reports, the perpetrator took hostages and hid in one of the rooms of the airport. A video from the scene showed passengers near the airport lying on the grass while the building was being evacuated. At 18:30 local time (

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), the

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reported that the man who staged the shooting had been detained. The Moldovan Prosecutor-General later said he had been hospitalized after suffering serious injuries following intervention by Moldovan special forces. The

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stated that all flights were delayed, and passengers were evacuated from the airport. Additionally,

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Maia Sandu said that state institutions had been put on high alert and expressed condolences to the families and relatives of the victims, and also added that the shooter was a foreign citizen who was denied entry into the country by authorities for security reasons.

Perpetrator

According to initial unconfirmed information, the perpetrator was a Russian citizen. There were also claims that the perpetrator was a mercenary of the Wagner Group. Later, Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean stated that the attacker was a 43-year-old citizen of

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

who had been banned from entering Moldova for security reasons. Tajikistani authorities later identified him as Rustam Ashurov, a member of an "organised criminal group" that had kidnapped a bank executive in

Dushanbe Dushanbe ( tg, Душанбе, ; ; russian: Душанбе) is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 863,400 and that population was largely Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe (r ...

a week before. On 3 July at 22:35 EEST, Ashurov died of his wounds at a hospital.

Aftermath

On 14 July, Recean announced that three Moldovan ministers had resigned following a governmental meeting on the shooting. These were Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Lilia Dabija,

Minister of Internal Affairs Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

Ana Revenco and Minister of Education and Research

Anatolie Topală Anatolie Topală (; born 27 October 1970) is a Moldovan mathematician and politician who served as the Minister of Education and Research of the Republic of Moldova A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their r ...

. They were replaced in their posts on 17 July by

Andrei Spînu Andrei Spinu (; born 10 June 1986) is a Moldovans, Moldovan entrepreneur and politician, who since August 2021 has been Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development of the Republic of Moldova in the Gavrilița Cab ...

Adrian Efros Adrian Efros (born 7 October 1982) is a Moldovan military officer and politician who currently serves as the Minister of Internal Affairs Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minis ...

and

Dan Perciun Dan Perciun (born 7 July 1991) is a Moldovan politician. He is the current Minister of Education and Research of Moldova. References

1991 births Living people Moldovan MPs 2019–2023 {{Moldova-politician-stub ...

, respectively.

References

{{Reflist, 30em 2023 in Moldova Chișinău International Airport shooting Murder in Moldova 2023 murders in Europe 21st century in Chișinău Deaths by firearm in Moldova June 2023 crimes in Europe