vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #158 / Crime watch / Reading article...

Grenade assailants guilty

Two brothers accused of trying to assassinate a businessman by lobbing a grenade into the intensive care ward of a hospital in 1994 were sentenced to prison in December.

Andrei and Alexander Genkal face terms of nine and 2 1/2 years respectively for their roles in the assault on Vagiz Shayakhmetov, president of Liberty Company.

When the attack occurred, Shayakhmetov and a friend were in City Clinical Hospital No. 2 recovering from wounds suffered when their jeep exploded. The grenade attack left them further injured, but they survived.

The brothers assaulted Shayakhmetov because of a clash over money. Alexander Genkal, the elder brother, had borrowed from Shayakhmetov but refused to repay him.

Man attacks 2 with acid

Police are still searching for a criminal who splashed acid in the faces of two women in December, including a former beauty queen who was heading to class at Far Eastern State University. Detectives say the attack might have been due to domestic conflict, or the revenge of a competitor who lost to the victim in last summer’s beauty show. Police are also considering insanity as a possible motiviation.

Mental patient kills granny

A man released from a mental hospital killed his 81-year-old grandmother by smashing her head against the door frame Jan. 3, police reported.

The grandson used to stop by his grandmother’s apartment, where she lived with her daughter. There he liked to drink, lauched him into the rage that led to the killing.