3 killed in Moscow Regional Court shootout

Clashes broke out in the Moscow Regional Court in Russia on Tuesday, leaving three defendants killed and five others wounded, the Russian authority said.

The incident happened when five defendants facing murder charges were taken to the court in the Moscow suburb of Krasnogors.

According to preliminary investigation, the defendants attempted to disarm the guards in an elevator, but three of them were killed and two wounded in the shootout that followed, said Tatyana Petrova, a spokeswoman for the Moscow regional police.

Russia's Investigative Committee said in a separate statement that the defendants attacked the guards in the elevator and tried to seize the weapons from the officers escorting them.

The guards managed to call for reinforcements and clashed with the defendants, during which three law enforcement officers were wounded.

Russian media reported earlier that the defendants were members of the so-called GTA gang, a group comprising members from Central Asian countries suspected of murdering several people in the Moscow region.