The police provided details about the gunfire incident that happened in Chisinau. Head of the General Public Security Division of the General Police Inspectorate Marin Maxian told a news conference that seven persons were hurt. The hunter’s gun from which shots were fired was held illegally.

According to Marin Maxian, a man aged over 60 reacted aggressively when representatives of the Centru district head’s office took measures to remove concrete blocks from Lermontov St, which the man placed to block access to the quarter where he lived this March. The man was asked to remove the blocks, but he didn’t comply and threatened the representatives of the local public authorities and of the road maintenance company “Exdrupo”, who tried to free the access road to the court, with a pneumatic gun. As a result, the police were called to intervene.

At the insistence of an inspector, the man yielded up the pneumatic gun, but he went home and brought a hunter’s gun. He fired at the persons who were taking the blocks away and injured six of them. Attempting to immobilize the man, the police fired at him and hurt him.

Afterward, it was ascertained that the man’s permit for the hunter’s gun expired in 2009. The man said then that he lost the gun. He faces four to eight years in jail for injuring police officers and persons holding important posts. The punishment will be harsher if he is also charged with illegal holding of a gun. The man’s acts were classed as murder attempt with aggravating circumstances.

Interviewed by journalists, the man said the representatives of the Centru district head’s office falsified the documents, misleading the police that the concrete blocks were placed on municipal territory. In fact, that land belongs to an agricultural association managed by the Durlesti mayor’s office. “They wanted to build a road across the agricultural association. We told them to send an official letter to the association so that they get an official answer. They didn’t understand and this was the fifth time that they came together with the police,” related the man.

He also said that the police wanted to tow his car away and this fact infuriated him. He wanted only to fire a warning shot, but answered when he saw that he was being shot. According to the man, the police fired ten shots at him and the bullet holes can be seen in the walls of his house.