Horror moment champion skateboarder is chased by gun-toting hitman before being brutally executed in ‘love-rival murder’
THIS is the horror moment a champion skateboarder was chased and brutally gunned down in a "love-rival murder".
Konstantin Balishanskiy, 34, ran wounded from his attacker close to his home in Moscow, darting between cars.
It is understood the gun-toting hitman was a “jealous” acquaintance as both men were in a suspected dispute over a woman.
The sinister images appeared to highlight a return to the violent 1990s, with a new rise in contract killing in Putin’s Russia, before it was revealed that the gunman and victim knew each other.
Deeply distressing footage shows him hiding in a ditch when a gunman goes close and riddles him with bullets.
Passersby fled to take cover.
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Several hours later his suspected assassin, Andrey Dyomin, 35, was wounded as he was detained in an operation involving police marksmen.
Earlier reports say the suspect had gone on the run armed with a weapon.
The suspected murder weapon was reported to be a Kalashnikov assault rifle with flash suppressor and collimator sight.
It was allegedly found at the arrest site.
The suspect had stalked the victim for several days, according to reports citing law enforcement.
As a teenager, Balishanskiy has been a skateboarding sensation and the leading star in the NikeSB Russia team.
He quit due to an injury.
Reports revealed that the men have known each other since their teens and now both work for video and multimedia operator Mediasystem Group, run by the dead man’s father.
A conflict between them arose “because of a woman”, according to sources familiar with the pair, reported Mash news outlet.
The wounded Dyomin was taken into custody in an ambulance.
A probe into murder and illegal possession of an assault rifle has been opened by the Russian Investigative Committee.
