Armenian Authorities Had Two-Day Warning Before Azerbaijani Soldier Shot Mother of Three

Armenian security authorities were warned that a missing Azerbaijani serviceman may have crossed into Armenia two days before he entered a family home in the southern Syunik province and shot a mother of three, leaving two of her children injured.

The October 1 shooting in Shaki has put new focus on the search for the serviceman and whether residents were warned that an armed Azerbaijani soldier could be in the area.

Azerbaijan’s State Security Service contacted Armenia’s National Security Service on September 29 to report that a serviceman had left his military unit under unknown circumstances. Azerbaijani authorities said they could not rule out that he had illegally crossed into Armenia.

The NSS said authorities in both countries began searching for him.

Two days later, he was found in Shaki — but only after a woman had been shot.

Armenian prosecutors identified the serviceman as Nasimi Musayev.

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, Musayev unlawfully entered a home on 6th Street at about 2 p.m. After he was discovered inside, he opened fire, wounding a 38-year-old woman. He then fled.

Police found Musayev at another property on the same street and arrested him at 3:30 p.m., prosecutors said.

The woman was first taken to Sisian Medical Center and later transferred to Yerevan. Hospital director Anik Grigoryan told NEWS.am that she suffered a gunshot wound to the lower thigh and that the bullet passed through her leg. She was conscious and in stable condition.

Two of her children were also treated for injuries after the incident, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office. One child, born in 2014, suffered a soft-tissue contusion. Another, born in 2011, suffered a fractured right wrist. Prosecutors have not said how the children sustained those injuries.

Accounts from Shaki residents and local officials have begun to fill in what happened inside the home, although some details differ.

Shaki village head Ruben Manucharyan said the confrontation took place in front of the woman’s three children. He said an armed man had entered the family’s home and the woman was injured after encountering him.

A member of the Shaki local administration gave NEWS.am a different account of the moments leading up to the confrontation. The official said the house had been empty when Musayev entered and that the children later came home and found him sleeping inside. They then called their parents. The woman returned, confronted Musayev and defended herself with a knife, according to the official.

Prosecutors have confirmed the central facts: Musayev unlawfully entered the house, fired his weapon after being discovered, wounded the woman and fled.

The incident has also raised questions about what happened during the two days between the warning from Azerbaijan and Musayev’s arrest.

Residents interviewed by NEWS.am said they had been warned that a missing Azerbaijani serviceman might be in the area.

Former NSS Director Mikayel Hambardzumyan told NEWS.am that authorities would normally be expected to intensify security and conduct search operations after receiving information about a possible border crossing. He cautioned that he did not know what measures had actually been taken in Shaki and said someone hiding inside a private home could be difficult to locate.

But Hambardzumyan said authorities should examine whether the search was properly organized and whether everything that could have been done was done.

The NSS has said Armenian authorities conducted search operations after receiving Azerbaijan’s Sept. 29 notification.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9LyKj694e4

Some residents told NEWS.am they had heard that an Azerbaijani serviceman had crossed into Armenia four or five days before the shooting. That timeline has not been confirmed by Armenian authorities.

Azerbaijani authorities have said Musayev had been missing from his military unit since Sept. 26, three days before Baku notified Yerevan that he might have entered Armenia. Azerbaijani authorities have said he left a military unit deployed in the Lachin direction.

What Armenian authorities knew by Sept. 29 is clear: an Azerbaijani serviceman was missing, there was a possibility he had crossed into Armenia, and a search had begun.

By the afternoon of Oct. 1, Musayev was inside a family home in Shaki.

He was taken into custody only after the shooting.

Armenian investigators have opened criminal proceedings in connection with the case. Evidence was collected from the scene and a forensic medical examination was ordered.

—

Support independent reporting from the region by subscribing to The Armenian Report. Our team is funded solely by readers like you.