WARNING VIEWER DISCRETION AT 1:49: The Russian ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, was shot and killed in an attack at a photo exhibit in Ankara. CBS News foreign correspondent Holly Williams joins CBSN with the latest details.
Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov was assassinated on the evening of December 19, 2016 at an art gallery exhibition in Ankara, Turkey by Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, an off-duty Turkish policeman
In 1992, Karlov graduated from the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry. He was fluent in Korean, and served in different roles in the USSR embassy in North Korea from 1979 to 1984, and 1986 to 1991, before having served as Russia’s ambassador to North Korea from 2001 to 2006. Between 1992 and 1997 he worked in the Russian embassy in South Korea.
From 2007 to 2009, Karlov served as Deputy Director of the Consular Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry. He was promoted to director of the department in January 2009. He was appointed ambassador to Turkey in July 2013.
CNN’S Zain Verjee speaks with Muhammad Lila as he translates what the shooter of the Russian ambassador to Turkey shouted after the attack.
During the assassination, the shooter said, “Don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria!” and “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest) while holding a gun in one hand and waving the other in the air. The attacker also shouted, “Stand back! Stand back! Only death will take me out of here. Anyone who has a role in this oppression will die one by one.” The assassin shouted in Arabic and Turkish.
The 22-year-old gunman, identified by Turkey’s interior minister as Mevlut Mert Altintas, was filmed through the windows of the modern arts centre pacing around the second floor with his handgun held up, as if to fire.
The Russian envoy to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, was shot and killed after a gunman stormed into a building where the opening ceremony of a Russian photo exhibition was being held.
RUPLY will be LIVE outside the venue in Ankara where the Russian ambassador to Turkey was shot, on Monday, December 19.
President Putin comments on assassination of Russian ambassador Karlov in Ankara.