You're reading: Ukrainian man shot dead by police in US

Iaroslav Mosiiuk, a 25-year-old man from Kyiv, was shot dead by a police officer in Charlotte, N.C. on March 8.

His relative called the police saying Mosiiuk was being suicidal, a local police chief told the Charlotte Observer. When the police arrived, Mosiiuk was holding a hunting rifle.

One of the officers fired at Mosiiuk after the man made “an imminent threat” to the police. Mosiiuk was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.

Mosiiuk comes from Kyiv, Ukraine, where he attended Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. It isn’t clear how long Mosiiuk had been living in the U.S.

The Charlotte Observer wrote that he was shot outside his home, one in a row of small red-brick bungalows on Justice Avenue in north Charlotte. The neighbors told the newspaper that he was living across the street from his mother and that he moved in several months before.

Mosiiuk’s sister Olesya Mosiyuk Tabaka, a real estate broker also living in Charlotte, told the Kyiv Post that the body wasn’t returned to the family yet. She restrained from further comments, saying the lawyers asked her to be silent. She added that “a lot of what’s being reported in the press is incorrect.”

The family started an online crowdfunding campaign to raise $15,000 required to transport his body back to Ukraine. As of March 11, the campaign raised $4,220 from 54 people.

Mosiiuk’s friend, a Kyiv photographer Oleksandr Gontar, wrote on Facebook that Mosiiuk was “a loyal and generous friend, who feared nothing.”

“A week ago we were talking about how to make this world a better place,” Gontar wrote. “Today, I’m telling myself that Iaroslav is indeed in a better world now.”

Gontar, who has known Mosiiuk most of his life, told the Kyiv Post that he didn’t believe Mosiiuk was suicidal.

“I’m absolutely sure that no matter the circumstances, he would never go for a suicide out of all possible decisions,” he said. “This is a fatal coincidence and I hope it will be properly investigated.”

The Charlotte police are conducting an investigation of the case. The officer who shot Mosiiuk, Brian Walsh, was put on a paid leave.

The U.S. police are allowed to use deadly force if there is an imminent risk of death or serious injury to the officers or regular citizens.