2016 shooting of Almaty police officers | |
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Location | Almaty, Kazakhstan |
Coordinates | 43°14′57″N 76°52′18″E / 43.2490336°N 76.8716763°E |
Date | 18 July 2016 10:54 a.m. – 11:18 a.m. (UTC+6) |
Target | Police officers |
Attack type | Mass shooting, shootout, carjacking, terrorist attack |
Weapons | |
Deaths | 11 (including one attacker) |
Injured | At least 10 (including one attacker) |
Perpetrators | Ruslan Kulikbayev[2] and six accomplices |
Motive | Suspected Salafi jihadism, hatred of police and law enforcement[3] |
Verdict | Ruslan Kulikbayev: Death; commuted to life imprisonment |
Convictions | Murder Attempted murder Terrorism |
On 18 July 2016, Ruslan Kulikbayev, a 26-year-old Salafi jihadist and ex-convict, shot and killed 10 people—8 police officers and 2 civilians—in the city of Almaty, Kazakhstan before being apprehended in a chase and shootout with law enforcement.[4] In addition to Kulikbayev, police arrested five other suspects involved in the attack, while officers shot and killed a sixth suspect. While in custody, Kulikbayev confessed to the attack, claiming he perpetrated it due to a hatred of law enforcement.
In November 2016, Kulikbayev was convicted with terrorism and murder charges stemming from the attack, and was sentenced to death. At the time of Kazakhstan's abolition of the death penalty in 2021, he had been the only person on Kazakhstan's death row; his death sentence was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment. Kulikbayev's five accomplices were also convicted and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 3 to 10.5 years.