YEREVAN (A.W.)—A police officer was shot dead on July 30, in the ongoing standoff with the armed “Sasna Tsrer” group, which has occupied a Yerevan police station since July 17. The spokesperson for the Armenian police Ashot Aharonian said that Yura Tepanosian (b. 1986) was killed by sniper gun fire while sitting in a police car parked over a 1,000 feet away from the seized police compound.
A police building in Yerevan’s Erebuni district seized by anti-government gunmen (Photo: Photolure)
The shooting took place a couple of hours after the ultimatum issued by Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) to the armed gunmen expired. The NSS had given the armed oppositionists until 5 p.m. on July 30 to surrender themselves to law enforcement authorities before large-scale maneuvers would begin.
Tepanosian is the second police officer to be killed in the ongoing occupation of the police station. Colonel Artur Vanoyan was killed when the armed opposition group stormed the police station on July 17.
A day earlier, on the night of July 19, riot police clashed with hundreds of people near the police compound. Several injuries of protesters, police officers, and journalists were reported following the clashes.
Source: Armenian Weekly
Link: Second Officer Killed in Ongoing Occupation of Yerevan Police Station