NEW YORK (AP) — A man fired from his job at a small manufacturing company went to his employers' home Tuesday with a handgun and shot them both, then barricaded himself inside their basement before he was shot to death during a police confrontation, authorities said.
Ilya Iglanov, 48, went to the couple's home at about 12:30 p.m. and they let him in, NYPD spokesman Paul J. Browne said. At some point, he opened fire, hitting Marina Tartakouskaya in the torso and Semyom Levin in the head, police said. Levin, 52, died shortly after.
Tartakouskaya, bleeding and wounded, was able to get outside through the kitchen door, where she asked a neighbor passing by for help, police said. The gunman, police said, followed her out. He put his weapon to the neighbor's head and fired, but the weapon jammed and the man was not injured, police said.
Iglanov went back inside the home, barricading himself in the basement as the husband lay injured upstairs.
Patrol officers found Iglanov in a closet with the gun pointed at his head, pulling the trigger several times to no effect, authorities said. They backed out, calling in Emergency Services Unit officers who are trained to handle highly charged situations with emotionally troubled people. One officer heard what appeared to be a gunshot from within the closet, but it's not clear if he shot himself, Browne said.
When emergency unit officers arrived moments later, they were expecting to render aid, but instead opened the closet door to find Iglanov pointing his loaded .25-caliber handgun at police. Despite requests to drop the weapon, Iglanov didn't, and a 37-year-old emergency unit officer fired, Browne said. It's not clear how many times the suspect was hit.
Police said the man had been fired from his job sometime earlier, but it wasn't clear when. Police initially believed the couple owned an Internet company, but later discovered it was a manufacturing business to develop military-grade flashlights.
Tartakouskaya, 45, was in stable but serious condition.