The fight between unknown persons and Odesa TV Channel 7 crew, which resulted in shooting, occurred because of a car accident, spokesman of the Main Office of the National Police Office of Ukraine in Odesa region Andriy Kostiuk said.
According to him, law enforcement officers discovered that a Nissan Sunny car, driving in reverse, crashed into Honda car and drove off from the crash site near Oleksandrivsky Avenue in Odesa on May 3.
The owner of the damaged vehicle decided to resolve this situation by himself. He learned the name of the car owner, who escaped from the crash scene and arranged a meeting near the TV channel’s office.
However, it turned out later that the meeting was scheduled with the car owner’s step-brother. The employee of TV channel was not involved in the accident, but had identical first name, last name and patronymic as the car crash perpetrator.
The fight broke out during the meeting ended up in gunfire. Now the investigation is establishing who fired the first shot.
At the same time law enforcement officers extended the qualification of the criminal proceedings. Now it is being investigated under Part 2, Article 15 (assault to murder), and Part 2, Article 296 (hooliganism) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The owner of the Honda car has already been identified: this is a resident of Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky town. The victims identified him. Identities of the car driver’s fellows, who might be involved in the crime, were also identified. Now the police are searching for them.
As reported, two cameramen and a journalist were injured in the attack. Their injuries were “very serious,” their colleagues said. They received urgent medical assistance on the spot. Later reports said that police had identified the owner of a Honda car and the shotgun, which was used to shoot the TV journalists. He was a resident of the city of Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky in Odesa region.
Channel 7 is one of the oldest TV channels in Odesa. At various times, it was affiliated to his ex-mayors of Odesa Ruslan Bodelian, Eduard Hurvits, and Oleksiy Kostusev. Now the channel is associated with businessman Adnan Kivan.
