Kremlin Dismisses Moscow Police Chief After Shooting

Vladimir Pronin

MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has fired Moscow's police chief, a day after an off-duty senior officer killed three civilians in a shooting spree in the city, the Kremlin said.

Police chief Vladimir Pronin was "relieved of his duties," a Kremlin statement said, without saying why.

Interfax news agency quoted a source in the presidential administration as saying the shooting was "unquestionably" the main reason for the dismissal.

The head of a Moscow police station, Denis Yevsyukov, began firing at random early on April 27 in a supermarket after having a violent argument with his wife and father-in-law at his party.

Yevsyukov, who had just turned 32, shot a female cashier in her face, instantly killing her, and fatally shot a male shopper in the chest, state television reported.

Pronin visited the scene of the crime and met Yevsyukov after the incident, Russian news agencies said.

Medvedev sacked the head of the police of Moscow's southern administrative district where the incident took place, the Kremlin said in an earlier statement that mentioned the shooting.