Preliminarily, a man who had been approached for detention by State Border Guard Service (SBGS) officials opened fire injuring two SBGS staff, at the border with Russia Wednesday night. The gunman was shot dead during the incident.

 

At night, SBGS Pagėgiai Frontier District’s border guard officials spotted several suspects in the village of Paleičiai, Šilutė district, near the river of Nemunas (Neman). Preliminarily, when those were approached for detention, one of the group opened fire with a handgun.

 

Two officials of the Special Tasks Squad of the SBGS Pagėgiai Frontier District were injured. One  received a chest injury and the other had his leg wounded. The two were brought to the hospital.

 

The man who offered resistance to the SBGS officials was shot dead by their colleague with an official handgun. The gunman had been warned, orally and with shots to the air. Preliminarily, the man, 44, is a resident of the Pagėgiai municipality.

 

The incident is investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Šilutė neighbourhood. The commander of the SBGS, Vainius Butinas, went to the scene of the incident Wednesday night.

 

The Lithuanian border with Russia is 294.4 km long. One-third of the border runs along the river of Nemunas (Neman). A larger section of the border with Russia is controlled by the SBGS Pagėgiai Frontier District. In the past years, the Frontier District’s section has been considered one of the most sensitive sections of the Lithuanian border due to incessant attempts at smuggling contraband, tobacco products in particular, into Lithuania from the Kaliningrad Region of Russia.