A 17-year-old Icelandic girl, who was an exchange student in Russia, is believed to have been involved in the accidental shooting of a 20-year-old Russian man earlier this month in his home where she was living. The man died from his injuries.
According to Pétur Ásgeirsson, office manager at the operational and service division of Iceland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the girl arrived in Iceland last week, Fréttabladid reports.
The Russian media report that the girl was playing with an air gun which belonged to the man. He was talking on the phone and his sister was in the computer. A shot was fired from the gun by accident and hit the man. The girl and the man’s sister called for help and the man was taken to the hospital where he died after a few days.
The girl then went to Moscow and sought assistance from the Icelandic Embassy to travel back to Iceland. According to RÚV, Russian authorities agreed to her leaving the country.
Ásgeirsson told Fréttabladid that Russian authorities had not contacted Icelandic authorities about this case, but if they request that the girl be sent back to Russia for prosecution, Icelandic authorities will instead ask to receive all documents in relation to this case and then have it go through the Icelandic legal system.
The case has received considerable attention in the Russian media.
