A churchgoer shot and killed an attacker who was violently beating a female paramedic with a shovel outside a church in southeastern Moscow.
The fatal shooting happened on the morning of September 1 outside the Church of the Holy Myrrh-Bearers on Belorechenskaya Street. The Russian Orthodox church is named after the women who, according to Christian tradition, visited the tomb of Jesus to anoint his body.
The religious site sits on the border of the Lublino and Maryino districts. Both are densely populated residential areas in the southeastern part of the Russian capital, characterised by large apartment complexes built in the late Soviet and post-Soviet eras.
Emergency medical services, known in Russia as skoraya pomoshch, dispatch teams directly to patients on the street or in their homes. An ambulance crew was sent to the church at around 11:00 Moscow time after receiving reports of a man acting aggressively outside the building.
Paramedics in Russia act as the primary point of care during crises and frequently respond to emergency calls involving severe psychiatric distress.
The aggressive man complained to the arriving medical team that he was experiencing hallucinations and hearing voices in his head.
As the medical staff attempted to provide assistance, the patient suddenly grabbed a shovel and launched a violent assault against them.
The attacker chased down a 23-year-old female paramedic. He repeatedly struck her with the shovel and blocked her attempts to escape. Video footage captured the brutal daytime beating.
The young medical worker sustained a fractured skull base and a severe traumatic brain injury. The repeated blows left a seven-centimeter open wound on the back of her head.
She is currently fighting for her life in an intensive care unit. Doctors have placed her on a medical ventilator, and they warn the severe injuries could leave her with permanent disabilities.
Shooter detained
Several bystanders attempted to intervene and stop the violent assault on the emergency worker.
One of the witnesses was a church parishioner who was carrying a legally registered traumatic pistol. These firearms are widely available in Russia. They are designed to fire rubber bullets for self-defense, but they can cause fatal injuries when fired at close range or at vital areas of the body.
The parishioner drew his weapon and opened fire on the aggressive man. The shots inflicted fatal wounds.
Russian law allows citizens to own traumatic weapons for self-defense if they obtain a license, but the legal threshold for justifiable self-defense is exceptionally strict. Individuals who use weapons to defend themselves or others often face criminal prosecution for exceeding the limits of necessary defense.
The injured medical team called the Russian National Guard, an internal military force known as Rosgvardia that responds to major public security incidents.
By the time the National Guard units arrived at the scene, the attacker was already dead.
The confrontation between the armed parishioner and the attacker was also caught on video. Police officers subsequently detained the man who fired the fatal shots.
Russian news outlets and Telegram channels with close ties to law enforcement, including Baza and Shot, quickly published leaked details from police reports about the suspect.
Authorities identified the deceased attacker as 29-year-old Gleb Zobern. He was the brother of Oleg Zobern, a prominent Russian author whose literature focuses on theological subjects.
The famous writer learned about the fatal incident through the internet. He told reporters that he had rarely communicated with his brother in recent times.
Mental health decline
The attacker was due to celebrate his thirtieth birthday in two weeks. However, his life had recently been marred by financial problems and a sharp deterioration in his mental health.
He received a message from doctors about two weeks ago, which reportedly caused his psychological condition to worsen. Medical sources indicated he had stopped taking his prescribed medication shortly before launching the unprovoked church attack.
He also struggled with a serious gambling addiction and regularly spent large sums of money on betting.
Financial records showed he had accumulated debts ranging between 40,000 and 100,000 rubles. He also held a mortgage and had outstanding traffic fines registered in his name.
He was listed as the owner of a company called Legion of Angels, and he made money selling pirated software and hacked video games. Last year, he set up a separate advertising business that failed to generate any revenue.
Despite his mounting financial difficulties, he frequently travelled abroad, taking regular flights to Turkey and Greece.
He also sent money to the Anti-Corruption Foundation. The organisation was founded by the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to investigate high-level government corruption. The Russian Justice Ministry has banned the foundation, designating it as an extremist group, an undesirable organisation, and a foreign agent as part of a sweeping state crackdown on political opposition.
