Shooting
The government was holding a question-and-answer period when five gunmen entered, led by Nairi Hunanyan who was a former journalist, plus his brother and uncle. They burst into the parliament chamber after they easily obtained passes allowing them to enter parliament, smuggling in their weapons under their overcoats. They fired their automatic weapons and killed Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, Parliamentary Speaker Karen Demirchyan, Deputy Speakers Yuri Bakhshyan and Ruben Miroyan, Armenia's Emergencies Minister Leonard Petrosyan, Mikael Kotanyan and at least two others. One of the victims was also hit in the head repeatedly with the butt of an assault rifle. The United Nations General Assembly meeting was interrupted in its schedule to pay tribute to the victims of the shooting.
After the killings, the gunmen announced they were staging a coup d'état and claimed that they wanted to punish "corrupt officials." The leader of the group said they intended to kill only Prime Minister Sargsyan, and the other deaths were "mistakes". Security forces quickly surrounded the parliament building. The gunmen surrendered to the authorities on Thursday morning, 28 October, and freed about 40 hostages after they were allowed to speak on national television and were promised a fair trial and safe passage by negotiations with the President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan. Nairi Hunanyan and the five gunmen were found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Read more about this topic: 1999 Armenian Parliament Shooting
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“I’ll tell you one thing. If a little green man pops out at me I’m shooting first and asking questions later.”
—Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1922–1978)