Photographer Who Captured Russian Envoy’s Murder Details The Shocking Scene

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Published

December 19, 2016

Aside from the shocking brazenness of the act itself, that there were professional press photographers on hand to capture the moments immediately after Andrei Karlov, the Russian envoy to Turkey, was shot and killed by a lone gunman during an art exhibition in the Turkish city of Ankara makes it all the more remarkable.

Multiple international press agencies were on-hand at the event, and captured Karlov’s murder at the hands of Turkish police officer Mevlut Mert Altintas from multiple angles.

But it was the Associated Press who snapped what’s surely going to go down as an iconic photo in the annals of history, capturing Altintas defiantly standing over Karlov’s fallen body, roaring with a gun firmly clasped in-hand.

An AP photographer was in the audience during the attack on Russia’s ambassador to Turkey – the latest here: https://t.co/QNlIA8e2Eu pic.twitter.com/EBPa5izHsi

— AP Images (@AP_Images) December 19, 2016

The AP photographer who captured the scene, Burhan Ozbilici, has detailed his experience of the events in a vivid account for AP news.

He stated that, at first, he believed the gunman to be part of some sort of “theatrical flourish” as Altintas drew his weapon and approached Karlov.

“The event was routine enough — the opening of an exhibit of photographs of Russia — so when a man on stage pulled out a gun I was stunned and thought it was a theatrical flourish.

It was anything but. Moments later the Russian ambassador was sprawled on the floor and the attacker was waving his gun at the rest of us, shouting slogans. He shot the ambassador at least once more at close range and smashed some of the framed photos on the wall.

In all there were at least eight shots.

Guests ran for cover, hiding behind columns and under tables. I composed myself enough to shoot pictures.”

Ozbilici, the story details, only attended the exhibition because it was on his way home from his office. He began shooting photos of Karlov thinking they might be useful for future stories on Russian-Turkish relations. But later on when he began sifting through the photos he’d taken of the scene, he discovered that Karlov’s murderer had been standing behind him whilst he delivered a speech. And in the chaos of it all, the gravity of what he’d just witnessed took some time to fully sink in.

“It took me a few seconds to realise what had happened: A man had died in front of me; a life had disappeared before my eyes.

I was shocked and sad but I started to take photographs, sheltering behind a wall.”

“When I returned to the office to edit my photos, I was shocked to see that the gunman was actually standing behind the ambassador as he spoke.”

The gunman reportedly shouted references to the shocking humanitarian crisis in the Aleppo region of Syria, where Russian bombardments have forced rebel forces out of areas they previously controlled during the bloody civil war that has decimated the region, essentially allowing troops from the Assad regime to surround them.

The situation continues to unfold.

Source: AP Images Blog.

Photo: Yavuz Alatan/Getty.