The Letipea massacre was a

mass shooting A mass shooting is a violent crime in which one or more attackers use a firearm to Gun violence, kill or injure multiple individuals in rapid succession. There is no widely accepted specific definition, and different organizations tracking su ...

of civilians by the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

armed forces that took place on 8 August 1976 in

Letipea Letipea is a village in Viru-Nigula Parish, Lääne-Viru County, northern Estonia. It is located on the Letipea cape (Letipea neem) on the coast of the Gulf of Finland about 6 km northeast of the town of Kunda, Estonia, Kunda. Letipea has a ...

, Estonia, at the time part of the USSR. It resulted from a conflict between gas company workers who were having a picnic there, and drunken

Soviet border guards The Soviet Border Troops () were the border guard of the Soviet Union, subordinated to the Soviet state security agency: first to the ''Cheka''/OGPU, then to NKVD/ MGB and, finally, to the KGB. Accordingly, they were known as NKVD Border Secu ...

. One of the border guards opened fire with an

assault rifle An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge, intermediate-rifle cartridge and a Magazine (firearms), detachable magazine.C. Taylor, ''The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat'', F.A. Moyer '' ...

, killing nine people at the picnic and wounding 13. In addition, he shot at one of the border guards who had come to stop him, who later died in hospital. In the end, the shooter committed suicide by shooting himself in the face. The commander of the border guard unit, who took responsibility, reportedly also committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

Memorial

A memorial stone was erected for the victims of the massacre in 1991 and the names of those who died were added in 1996.Virumaa Teataja "Letipeal mälestatakse veresauna ohvreid" 04.08.2006
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References

{{Reflist 1976 in Estonia 1976 suicides 1976 deaths 1976 mass shootings in Europe Mass murder in 1976 Massacres in 1976 Massacres in Estonia Massacres committed by the Soviet Union August 1976 in Europe Viru-Nigula Parish 1976 in the Soviet Union Mass shootings in the Soviet Union Murder–suicides in Europe 1976 murders in the Soviet Union Suicides by firearm in Estonia Suicides by firearm in the Soviet Union