Colleagues 'knew Moscow policeman who shot 3 dead was unstable'

MOSCOW, April 28 (RIA Novosti) - Colleagues of a Moscow police officer who went on a nighttime shooting spree when drunk, killing three people and injuring six, say he had a history of arbitrary violent behavior, a newspaper reported.

Denis Yevsyukov, 32, took a taxi to a supermarket in southern Moscow soon after midnight on Monday. After shooting the driver dead, he walked into the store, shooting indiscriminately, before being arrested.

Komsomolskaya Pravda on Tuesday cited colleagues of the Tsaritsino district police chief as saying that last year he had caused a disturbance in a restaurant when drunk.

Yevsyukov reportedly attacked several people with pepper spray, and had to be dragged out of the restaurant by officers from a nearby patrol post. However, colleagues told the paper that the incident was hushed up, and the officer was promoted to district chief in December.

Colleagues said Yevsyukov was widely disliked in his department. Almost all the female officers under his command had resigned since December, complaining of intolerably rude treatment. In recent months he reportedly showed up drunk at work several times.

The paper's revelations come in stark contrast to the city police chief's statement that Yevsyukov had no history of problems at work.

Vladimir Pronin, who spoke to Yevsyukov hours after the killing spree, told Russian media that the killer had until then been considered a good officer with strong potential, having served 14 years on the force without complaints from colleagues.

After questioning him, Pronin said: "His eyes were like saucers - he was not aware of anything and remembered nothing of what had happened - he just cried."

Russian television channels have shown surveillance footage taken inside the supermarket, showing Yevsyukov reloading his Makarov semi-automatic next to the wine aisle.

Police officials said on Monday that a possible motive for the shooting could be a family argument.

"Yevsyukov had a major row with his wife before the incident," an official said.

The officer had reportedly frequently quarreled at home recently, his wife being unhappy about the amount of time he was spending at work.