Incident Summary:
04/07/2006: Skinheads were thought to be behind a shooting death in St Petersburg, Russia, of a third year communications student Senegalese national, Lamzar Samba, just as he left a nightclub in the morning when a lone gunman ambushed him and a group of friends with a pump-action shotgun and shot in the back and in the neck while the others were able to escape. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Overview
GTD ID:
200604070012
When:
2006-04-07
Country:
Russia
Region:
Eastern Europe
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Saint Petersburg
City:
Admiralty Island
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Armed Assault |
Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Private Citizens & Property |
Name of Entity |
Movement against racism Russian Federation |
Specific Description |
Lamzar Samba, student activist |
Nationality of Target |
Senegal |
Additional Information
Hostages |
No |
Ransom |
No |
Property Damage |
No |
How
Weapon Information
Type |
Sub-type |
Firearms |
Rifle/Shotgun (non-automatic) |
Weapon Details |
The shotgun had a swastika stenciled on it, the word "skinheads" in English, and various derogatory slogans about non-whites scrawled on it. |
Additional Information
Suicide Attack? | No |
Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
Additional Information |
A pump-action shotgun with a swastika was found nearby and police as well as the St. Petersburg prosecutor were treating the crime as racially motivated. --The killing drew strong condemnation from politicians and cemented St Petersburg's reputation as one of Russia's most dangerous cities for non-whites, along with Moscow and the student town of Voronezh. Following many other attacks on foreigners, St Petersburg-based white supremacists recently published instructions on how to kill a foreigner on the internet. A Manual For Street Terror urged attackers to wear gloves, shoe covers, and normal clothes to avoid detection and to form "white patrols". The manual is reportedly being handed out in leaflet form on St Petersburg's streets. On April 10 it was learned that suspect who was an electrician and had a previous conviction for illegal sale of weapons had been identified and arrested through fingerprints on the beer bottle used. On May 19, St. Petersburg police shot dead Dmitry Borovikov who was on the federal wanted list on suspicion of the Mad Crowd extremist group and was suspected of the murder. |
Who
Perpetrator Group Information
Group Name |
Claimed Responsibility |
Skinheads |
Unknown |
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
Unknown |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
1 |
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties |
1 Fatalities / 0 Injured |
Total Number of Fatalities |
1 |
Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
0 |
Total Number of Injured |
0 |
Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
Osborn, Andrew, “Russian white supremacists murder student,” The Independent (London), April 08, 2006. |
“Russian TV Highlights 3-9 April 2006,” Caversham BBC Monitoring in English, April 09, 2006. |
“FC Members Urge Search For Masterminds Of African Student' S Murder,” Moscow ITAR-TASS in English, April 07, 2006. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties