MOSCOW, January 22 (RIA Novosti) – A Russian man who became a nationalist icon after shooting a Dagestani while traveling on the Moscow metro claimed he was acting in self-defense, Lifenews.ru reported Wednesday.
The man said in a filmed interview with the online tabloid that he was spurred into action after the victim and a friend stared at him and said something to him.
“They clearly tried to attack me … Well, they wanted to attack me,” the 44-year-old suspect said. “They were watching me through a reflection in the window and he came across the metro car and said: ‘What are you looking at?’”
The man, whose name has not been disclosed, said he pulled his gun to “put a scare” into the Dagestani, but “lost it” and started shooting when the intimidation tactic did not work.
Security footage of the incident shows the man being accompanied by another armed individual, who has also reportedly been detained and identified as his son.
Video of the incident, which took place in November, has since become a YouTube sensation in Russia. The footage shows the suspect shoot their victim, kick him and then shoot again as he is prostrate
In one widely circulated mocked-up image based on a still from the footage, the stance of one of the presumed attackers is likened to that from a scene in cult vigilante movie “The Boondock Saints,” which has earned the pair the nickname of “the Metro Saints.”
The duo became icons for nationalists, many of whom harbor deep enmity to residents of Russia’s primarily Muslim North Caucasus, where Dagestan is located.
The suspects were detained Tuesday. Police said they unsuccessfully tried to escape a police convoy.
Hardline Russian nationalist Dmitry Dyomushkin said one of the suspects studied knife-fighting with him, but denied the man was a nationalist activist.
A search of the elder suspect’s home produced several guns, including a Kalashnikov rifle, and 4 kilograms (8.8 pounds) of marijuana.
The suspect said in the Lifenews video that the illegal drug was intended for personal use.
Police have said the man has a previous criminal record for theft and was on a federal wanted list for large-scale counterfeiting.
