Bio

Aleksey Vladimirovich Arbuzov was born in 1984 in Neryungri. His family moved to the Moscow region after their house in Neryungri burned down. The family first lived in Shatura. Later his mother found small housing in Moscow that had been an electrical room converted into a living space.

He had a brother who once sang in the Pyatnitsky Choir. That brother later joined a Cossack group and died at some later time under unclear circumstances.

When Arbuzov was 16, he suffered a severe traumatic brain injury after a champagne bottle was smashed on his head during a fight at a club. His sister, Yulia, said he began to show violent behavior after a fall from a motorcycle. She said he repeatedly beat her and their mother. Because of these problems he was registered with a neuropsychiatric dispensary.

Neighbors described him as unemployed and living a solitary life. Some of them also called him a positive, sociable person. Psychiatrists suggested that his unmotivated aggression could come from a severe mental disorder that leads to paranoid ideas.

Murder Story

On December 9, 2011, at about 12:45 PM, Aleksey Vladimirovich Arbuzov, born in 1984 and a resident of Shatura, entered a pharmacy at 40 Korneichuka Street. He asked for prescription medications. Investigators said the prescription was missing a stamp. When the pharmacy clerks refused to serve him, he pulled out a knife and stabbed the clerk and several customers.

After leaving the pharmacy, he ran toward his home and stabbed passersby along the way. Most of the people he attacked were elderly, aged about 55 to 80. Police were alerted and arrived quickly. Arbuzov fled to the entrance of the building where he lived with his mother and went into an electrical room that had been converted into living space. Officers released tear gas into the apartment and detained him there.

Witnesses said he had wild eyes, growled, and stabbed people in his path. The weapon was a souvenir knife that he had sewn into his boot and kept in his shoe. He could not explain why he did it. A criminal case was opened under the charges of attempted murder and hooliganism.

Twelve people were injured in the attacks. Two women, 75-year-old Maria Glebova and 80-year-old Alexandra Potekhina, died in the hospital. Alexandra Potekhina’s husband, Ivan Potekhina, who was wounded, died later on December 18. In total, three people later died from their injuries.

Six women aged between 30 and 70 and two men received injuries of varying severity. Another victim left the scene before paramedics and law enforcement arrived.

A psychiatric and psychological examination found that Arbuzov suffered from a severe mental disorder in the form of paranoid schizophrenia. The exam concluded he did not understand the actual nature and social danger of his actions at the time. On October 2, 2012, the Moscow City Court declared him insane and ordered compulsory treatment in a specialized psychiatric hospital with intensive observation.