Georgian police tried to arrest on Wednesday a man they suspect of throwing a grenade during a speech by visiting President Bush in May, but he escaped after a gunfight, local media reported. Police raided a property in the Vashli-Jvari suburb of Tbilisi where the suspect was hiding, Rustavi-2 Television station reported. One policeman was killed and the suspect was wounded, it reported from the scene. An operation was under way to find the suspect. Georgian police on Monday announced a new $83,000 reward for information about the suspect.
U.S. officials said at the time that the grenade only failed to explode because of a malfunction and landed within 30 meters (100 feet) of the president as he spoke to tens of thousands of people in Tbilisi's Freedom Square. The security scare blighted a trip intended to show Bush's support for the former Soviet state's West-leaning government, which came to power after a democratic revolution 20 months ago.
Officials said the grenade could have caused major injuries in the close-packed crowd, the largest gathering of people on the square since the "Rose Revolution" led by now-President Mikhail Saakashvili.
UPDATE: TBILISI, Georgia - Georgian police on Wednesday detained a man suspected of throwing a live grenade during a rally at which President Bush spoke in May, the Interior Ministry said. The capture came after a shootout in which one officer was killed and another wounded. The shootout and detention occurred Wednesday evening in the village of Vashlisdzhvari, outside the capital, Tbilisi, ministry spokesman Guram Donadze told The Associated Press. The suspect fled into the woods but was later detained, Donadze said. | If they were unhappy with him tossing a grenade that didn't go off, they're really pissed now that he killed a cop. |
Rustavi-2 television showed pictures of a dark-haired man it described as the suspect being hustled into a car by police officers. It said he was wounded and identified him as Vladimir Arutyunov, in his late 20s. The man lived in an eight-story apartment building with his mother, Rustavi-2 reported, citing neighbors as saying Arutyunov was unemployed. The report could not immediately be confirmed. | Unemployed, living with his mom, hates Bush, sure he's not a member of MoveOn.org? |
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