The Police Department opened a pre-trial investigation into the murder. The Criminal Code stipulates that murder is punishable by a custodial sentence for a term from seven up to fifteen years.
According to the VSAT, at around 9 p.m. on 1 June, border guards had information about potential smuggling and were searching for a suspect near the border with Belarus intending to detain him. This happened close to Paūdrionys village in Šalčininkai district.
A VW Passat driving on the road was noticed but its driver ignored the instructions of uniformed border guards to stop. The car sped up instead and started fleeing. VSAT officers turned their vehicle around and started the chase.
Another uniformed border guard was on the road nearby and it is not ruled out that the fleeing man tried to hit the officer, who avoided the collision at the last moment.
Preliminary data suggests that with his health and life in danger, and seeking to stop the fugitive, the border guard fired one shot aiming at the tyre of the car.
According to the VSAT, the car stopped and a mortally wounded man, a citizen of Lithuania born in 1980, was found in the driver’s seat. The car was transporting packages of what is suspected to be smuggled cigarettes.
VSAT Commander Rustamas Liubajevas later said that the person in question, a resident of Vilnius city, was well known both to the VSAT and the police and had „an impressive criminal record“, as well as multiple convictions for various crimes, including violation of the state border and unlawful possession of goods taxed by excise duties.