Police on Thursday morning apprehended three men believed to have stolen $56,000 in jewelry from a southeast Moscow store, in a robbery that took place the previous night.
One of the suspects was shot as the men, who were driving in a BMW X6, tried to elude police in a chase that resulted in several car accidents, a police spokesperson said, Interfax reported.
Police said they were forced to use a service weapon to subdue the suspects, who were presenting an immediate danger to the public. The wounded suspect was hospitalized.
The night before, at about 8:50 p.m., two robbers armed with a compressed-air gun raided a jewelry store next to the Ryazansky Prospekt metro station, twice shooting a guard before fleeing in a Lada, police said.
The guard, who sustained injuries in the arm and stomach, was hospitalized.
That same night, armed robbers in St. Petersburg made off with an undisclosed amount of cash from an Otkritie bank branch, shooting a female clerk in the arm, police said.
The three culprits, also armed with a compressed-air gun, raided the bank in the eastern part of the city around 10:30 p.m. then fled the scene, a police spokesperson told the news site Fontanka.ru.
Police are still looking for suspects in that robbery.
In November, robbers stole nearly $4 million from an armored car transporting cash for Otkritie in St. Petersburg.
A month later in the northern capital, an armored car guard tried to steal about $5.6 million from Otkritie but was shot to death by a fellow guard.
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Armed Robbers Steal $56,000 in Jewelry, Shoot Security Guard
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