Minsk "shooter" was 59, he used to work at railways

When there first appeared information that the police warrant officer was killed in a firefight, we arrived to Mashynistau St., 22. The bodies had been just taken away from there and all traces of the horrible crime had been cleaned.

The garage where Mikalaj P. killed himself is closed but the lights are seen coming through the door cracks.

"It happened right here, in the yard",  - says a policeman, showing me a wooden fence. Other officials do not answer my questions: the murder of a policeman is a shocking event for the peaceful Belarus.

"He was an Afghan veteran and lost his mind", - two other policemen say. 

However, Mikalaj P. wasn't a crazy veteran. 

"He worked as a train operator all his life. They have a good family, his son is a successful playwright, his works were on stage in Belarus and abroad. They never made any scandals, Mikalaj attended the church regularly. We are shocked", - Mikalaj's neighbours tell me. 

Euroradio: What happened here? Why did the firefight start?

"This is all because of the dog. Some alien people moved to our neighbourhood recently, they have a dog. It attacked me once, - a neigbour recalls emotionally, - Meanwhile, the dog's owner kept on cleaning the snow behind the fence. I told him - look after your dog, it is not a mongrel or something like this. However, they paid no attention to the complaints. A woman with a child was passing by, the dog attacked and they did not even come out".  

Euroradio: What is the dog's breed?

Neighbour: I don't know, it is aggressive to people. Something like a Doberman, I guess. This dog attacked Mikalaj today. 

Neighbour: He is very serious about dogs. He used to own a German Sheperd once, and it attacked his grandson. He asked my father-in-law to shoot the dog then. Today he saw that the neighbours did not react to our complaints and shot in the air to frighten the dog at first, and then he shot he dog and wounded it. Still, people told afterwards that they saw the dog in perfect health. Nevertheless, the dog's owner rushed to Mikalaj's house and knocked on the door, shouted and then called the police..." 

Euroradio: here did your neighbour take the weapons?

Neighbour: "We don't know. He was a peaceful person. He was a handy man and could deal with technical equipment, a great auto mechanic. He renovated cars, he even could repair disc valves. They had a good family, never quarreled. He used to drink but then he gave it up and started going to church".

Euroradio: Do you know why he started shooting the policemen?

Neighbour: "We don't know. I think the policemen did not wear body armour, although they knew that the man was armed. They told him something and he started shooting, and then he hid in the garage. I think he realized what he had done and committed suicide..." 

After the policemen left, the widow and some other woman walked along the yard. They inspected the garage doors. Possibly, the woman could not believe that such tragedy happened.

Looking at the profile of the murdered policeman Ihar Ivanchyk in the social networks, we see that he was devoted to his family - a wife, a child, a new apartment, got in 2011. It is difficult to understand why there was vital firefight at Mashynistau St., 22...

Mashynistau Street goes along the railway

This is the garage where Mikalaj P. shot himself after he had killed the policeman

The deceased warrant officer Ihar Ivanchyk is claimed to ba an experienced officer. He was 37. They say that he rushed to disarm the killer after his colleague had been wounded.

Ihar Ivanchyk had a wife and a son. The family has just moved to the new flat, in 2011...