On 30 June 2023, a man shot and killed two people and injured another at the

Chișinău International Airport Chișinău International Airport (; ) is Moldova's main international airport, located southeast of the centre of Chișinău, the capital city. It served as headquarters for Air Moldova, the country's national airline. On 18 January 2024, the I ...

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

after he was denied entry into the country. The perpetrator was then shot and apprehended by security forces and died of his injuries three days later.

Attack

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

source said that the passenger arrived from

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and that he used firearms against the

border guards A border guard of a country is a national security agency that ensures border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Germany, Italy or Ukraine) and rescue service duties. Name and uniform In diffe ...

. The Moldovan news website ''NewsMaker'', citing unnamed officials, said a man took a gun from a border police officer after he was taken to a no-entry zone. He killed an employee of the General Inspectorate of the Customs Service of the Republic of Moldova and an employee of the Airport Security Service. Another person, a passenger, was injured and hospitalized. According to some reports, the perpetrator took hostages and hid in one of the rooms of the airport. A video from the scene showed passengers near the airport lying on the grass while the building was being evacuated. At 18:30 local time (

EEST Eastern European Summer Time (EEST) is one of the names of the UTC+03:00 time zone, which is 3 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used as a summer daylight saving time in some European and Middle Eastern countries, which makes it ...

), the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Moldova reported that the man who staged the shooting had been detained. The Moldovan Prosecutor-General later said he had been hospitalized after suffering serious injuries following intervention by Moldovan special forces. The

Government of Moldova The government of Moldova () is the government of the Republic of Moldova. It is housed in the Government House at the Great National Assembly Square in Chișinău Chișinău ( , , ; formerly known as Kishinev) is the Capital city, cap ...

stated that all flights were delayed, and passengers were evacuated from the airport. Additionally,

Moldovan President The president of the Republic of Moldova () is the head of state of Moldova. The current president is Maia Sandu, who assumed office on 24 December 2020. Duties and functions The president "represents the State" and is "…the guarantor of n ...

Maia Sandu Maia Sandu (; born 24 May 1972) is a Moldovan politician who is serving as the sixth president of Moldova since 2020. She is the founder and former leader of the Party of Action and Solidarity and was Prime Minister of Moldova, prime minister o ...

said that state institutions had been put on high alert and expressed condolences to the families and relatives of the victims, and also added that the shooter was a foreign citizen who was denied entry into the country by authorities for security reasons.

Perpetrator

According to initial unconfirmed information, the perpetrator was a Russian citizen. There were also claims that the perpetrator was a mercenary of the

Wagner Group The Wagner Group (), officially known as PMC Wagner (, ), is a Russian state-funded private military company (PMC) controlled 2023 Wagner Group plane crash, until 2023 by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former close ally of Russia's president Vladimir Pu ...

. Later, Moldovan Prime Minister

Dorin Recean Dorin Recean (born 17 March 1974) is a Moldovan politician, economist, and academic serving as Prime Minister of Moldova since February 2023. Since 2022 he has also served as Presidential Advisor on Defense and National Security, and Secretary ...

stated that the attacker was a 43-year-old citizen of

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

who had been banned from entering Moldova for security reasons. Tajikistani authorities later identified him as Rustam Ashurov, a member of an "organised criminal group" that had kidnapped a bank executive in

Dushanbe Dushanbe is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 1,564,700, with this population being largely Tajiks, Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe, and from 1929 to 1961 as St ...

a week before. On 3 July at 22:35 EEST, Ashurov died of his wounds at a hospital.

Aftermath

On 14 July, Recean announced that three Moldovan ministers had resigned following a governmental meeting on the shooting. These were Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development

Lilia Dabija Lilia Dabija (born 17 October 1982) is a Moldovan jurist. She served as the Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development in the Recean Cabinet. References {{Moldova-politician-stub Living people 1982 births Moldovan women in polit ...

Minister of Internal Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Ana Revenco Ana Revenco (; born 21 May 1977) is a Moldovan politician. She served as Minister of Internal Affairs in the cabinets of Prime Ministers Natalia Gavrilița and Dorin Recean Dorin Recean (born 17 March 1974) is a Moldovan politician, economi ...

and Minister of Education and Research

Anatolie Topală Anatolie Topală (; born 27 October 1970) is a Moldovan mathematician and politician who served as the Minister of Education and Research of the Republic of Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a landlocked country in ...

. They were replaced in their posts on 17 July by

Andrei Spînu Andrei Spînu (; born 10 June 1986) is a Moldovans, Moldovan entrepreneur and politician, who was Deputy Prime Minister of Moldova in the Gavrilița Cabinet, Government of Gavrilița and served as Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Developme ...

, Adrian Efros and

Dan Perciun Dan Perciun (born 7 July 1991) is a Moldovan politician. He is the current Minister of Education and Research of Moldova. References 1991 births Living people Moldovan MPs 2019–2021 Moldovan MPs 2021–2025 {{Moldova-politici ...

, respectively.

References

{{Maia Sandu 2023 in Moldova 2023 mass shootings in Europe Murder in Moldova 2023 murders in Europe 21st century in Chișinău Deaths by firearm in Moldova June 2023 crimes in Europe