Mass murders in Baltic States

Number of victims: 2
On the June 6th, 2020, 32-year old Estonian Mikk Tarraste went on a shooting spree in Lihula, Lääneranna Parish, killing 2 people and injuring 5 others, including children.

Since the young age Mikk was an active member of Noored Kotkad – an Estonian patriotic youth paramilitary organization. In adulthood Tarraste became a member of Eesti Kaitseliit – the unified paramilitary armed forces of the Republic of Estonia and even earned the title of a commander. Tarraste was eventually excluded from Kaitseliit in 2013 for being aggressive and regularly getting into conflicts with other members. At some point Estonian news stopped mentioning that Tarraste was a member of this organization.


June 6th, 21:45: Mikk Tarraste drove to the Lihula Orelex gas station. There he crashed into 2 parked cars.

21:45: Someone immediately called to Emergency Response Centre. Then Tarraste rode on and crashed into a pole with a surveillance camera and a gas station building.

A motorcyclist (a member of Kaitseliit) and 2 cars started following Mikk. Tarraste mostly drove through a roadside field. By the time he reached Tuudi-Raudtee crossroad he already lost his car’s bumper with a license plate.

He managed to get back on the road and then started driving in the direction of Tuudi-Raudtee road. On the gravel road, his car slid into a ditch.

A motorcyclist which was following him stopped near the car. Tarraste went out and shot him. Later in court Mikk claimed that the motorcyclist actually threatened to shoot him first and he killed him only in the terms of self-defense.

22:00: Emergency Response Centre received another call.
Armed Mikk headed in the direction of Tuudi railway station. First police patrol arrived at the scene.

22:25: Mikk Tarraste walked approximately 800 meters. He saw a car with 5 passengers – an elderly couple and their three grandchildren. He started shooting at the car, wounding passengers; an elderly woman died. Tarraste then fled into the woods.

22:45: Emergency Response team members arrived at the scene and started searching for Mikk in the woods (helicopters were involved). When they finally surrounded him, he tried to kill a police officer and tried to shoot him several times.

00:45: Tarraste was finally arrested near the gas station.

Little is known about perpetrator’s personal life. Mikk graduated from Tallinn Health Care College. He also received additional training in France and Switzerland. A year prior the shooting his firm “Citomed” which specialized in providing nursing care services won 2 public tenders and even provided services for Detention Centre of the Police Department and the Border Guard Board and for Tallinn’s Arrest House. He worked in Tallinn’s ambulance service, at North Estonia Medical Centre and had a part-time job at Tallinn’s Children Hospital. Mikk also taught nursery for students for several years and gave many interviews about this sphere at many seminars and conferences.

Mikk violated the law previously – he was accused of possessing illegal guns in 2005. On April 21st, 2008, he was accused of shooting at the windows of a random house together with his friend late at night.

Later in court Mikk couldn't clearly explain his motives and said that "what happened was an accident". He was originally sentenced to 20 years in prison but then was sentenced to life without parole. He eventually committed suicide in prison on the 4th of June, 2022, almost 2 years after the massacre.

Photos:
Mikk with his family members:
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Mikk's house:
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Mikk in court:
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Source:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] - An interactive map of what’s been happening.

Number of victims: 7

Yuri Chubarov was an ordinary Russian farmer who moved to Latvia. He got a land plot in Murnieki Municipality in 1976 from the “Progress” collective farm. Here he built a house, set up greenhouses and was doing beekeeping, peacefully living his life. Many people who knew him described him as a kind, hard-working man and never thought that he would go on a shooting spree.

In the year 1993, after the Republic of Latvia gained its independence back and the law on Land Reform in Rural Areas was passed, Janis Koshkin and his son Arthur Koshkin suddenly returned with documents which proved their land ownership. Even despite the fact that Yuri’s house was built on a small patch of land and the Koshkin family actually got enough territory back, they openly threatened Yuri and claimed that they would kick him out.

Yuri’s house burned down in April 1997. Yuri thought that it wasn't an accident and his neighbours actually burned down his house, but police refused to initiate criminal prosecution. Yuri moved to a small trailer near Murnieki, but then his bees suddenly started dying. Yuri had serious health issues (a heart disease) and beekeeping was his only source of income. It’s been speculated that not so long before the massacre his last bee family had died.

On September the 20th, 1997, the Koshkin family and their acquaintances and relatives were collecting potatoes on a field not so far away from Iecava. Yuri approached the field and started shooting everyone. 3 people managed to escape and hide. Yuri ran away in the woods and committed suicide there. Police found his corpse a day later.

Photos:
Police searching the crime scene:
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Before going on a shooting spree, Yuri left 4 glasses of vodka with pieces of black bread on them; in Russian tradition, a glass of vodka covered by a piece of black bread is left for the deceased.
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Source:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] - An article in Latvian with graphic photos included.
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Number of victims: 4
On the 22nd of February, 1999, Alexander Koryakov attacked a kindergarten located in Gulbene, Latvia. He killed a teacher and 3 girls with a hunting knife and an axe. At the time of the massacre Alexander was 21 years old, he was unemployed and claimed that he was inspired by Soviet serial killer Andrei Chikatilo and wanted to become as infamous as he was.

His friend claimed that Alexander “changed a lot” when he was enrolled in Riga's University of Social Technology to study psychology and also suspected that he probably “got into bad company”. Other acquaintances also reported that Alexander studied well at school, but was very shy and never looked into people's eyes. After entering the university Alexander changed his specialty to jurisprudence in a couple of months and then quickly dropped out. The head of the university said that Alexander was a bit insecure and couldn't pronounce letter "R", but no one thought that he would do something horrendous.

It’s also been reported that Alexander originally wanted to kill his family members as well.

Alexander escaped the crime scene, but eventually surrendered to police. He tried to kill himself after the arrest by cutting his wrists. During the investigation police found books written by Mikhail Sholokhov with bookmarked descriptions of violent scenes, detectives and some sort of a collection with descriptions of world’s most infamous crimes at his house.

Alexander is currently serving his life sentence at the “White Swan” prison in Latvia.

Source:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] - there’s a video which includes interview with Alexander in Russian, with subtitles in Latvian.
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Number of victims: 9

On February 15th, 1998, Polish local Leonard Zavistonovič shot down 9 Lithuanians and wounded another one in the Draučiai village. He was eventually beaten to death by other Lithuanians – residents of the village.

The shooting happened on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the Act of Independence of Lithuania. Leonard was a member of Polish minority which had vey strained relationship with Lithuanian government at that time. According to the official version, the shooting was a result of a mental illness and wasn’t caused by a political agenda and wasn’t a hate crime.  

It’s been reported that Leonard was suffering from delusions and other mental issues; however, he masked his symptoms well and passed all psychiatric exams to get a gun license. He’s been married 3 times and most of his acquaintances described him as an intelligent and helpful man.

Source:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] – An article in Lithuanian, includes some crime scene photos, photos of victims, etc.
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