Election poll in Armenia’s village assaulted causing casualties

An election poll in Shaumiyan village of Armenia’s Ararat district, nearby Artashtat city, Sunday, 9 p.m. local time was reportedly assaulted when the voting was over. Unknown suspects opened fire on the school building where the poll was, resulted in one man death and four injured.

According to Rosa Stepanyan, the chairman of election board in the village and Aramaise Barsegiyan, a head of political Equity alliance in Artashat, a group of unidentified suspects in a Mercedes drove up to the school building, tossed a grenade and started shooting around. As a result, Vrezh Avetisiyan, a retired traffic patrol policemen who happened to be in a school yard was killed as well as Roza Stapanyan, Nver Karapietyan and Raphic Karapietyan were injured, the latter two supporters of a candidate.

Captain Mesrop Madatiyan, a policeman on duty, returned fire and hit an attacker in his leg, who appeared to be Yenokiyan, a villager with a pretentious nickname Tarzan. As well police report as Roza Stepanyan opinion there were no linkage between the incident and elections. In the afternoon Vrezh and “Tarzan” argued and the latter had it in for Vrezh. In the evening Yenokiyan being drunk returned to school where he noticed his “enemy” and opened fire with a rifle.

The employees of election committee had to escape from the site.