MOSCOW — Three suspected gang members were killed in a shootout at a courthouse in a Moscow suburb on Tuesday after overpowering guards and stealing their weaponry, Russia's top investigative authority said of their botched escape attempt. Russia’s Investigative Committee, the country’s chief investigative body, said in a statement on Tuesday the incident took place when five handcuffed defendants tried to escape as they were escorted by two guards at the Moscow Regional Court. One tried to strangle a guard before the defendants seized the guards' weapons and the group managed to escape, the investigative committee said. Three defendants were killed and two others were wounded during a shootout with the guards. Russian news agencies are reporting that two people have been injured in a shooting inside a courthouse in a Moscow suburb. According to the Tass agency, Nataly Osipova, spokeswoman for the Moscow Regional Court, said the incident took place at a hearing in a case of a gang of nine people who have terrorized Moscow roads, killing more than a dozen of motorists. Two more suspected members of the group dubbed by the media and police as the GTA Gang, a reference to the "Grand Theft Auto" video game series, were detained as they tried to flee. "Prosecutors said the gang members were placing spikes on roads, forcing the motorists out of their vehicles and shooting them dead," the AP reports. Nine men are charged in 17 murders and two attempted murders, as well as other crimes between 2012 and 2014.
Three so-called GTA gang members are shot dead and four others are wounded, including two guards, at a courthouse in Moscow, Russia, after they attempted to escape.