Love Feuds 90s Style? Penza Gangsters in Moscow

Details have emerged about the shooting on Rublyovskoye Highway in Moscow. One of the criminals died in the shootout, while the second was taken for questioning in the case of kidnapping and murder in Penza Oblast. MSK1.RU has compiled everything known about the high-profile incident in the west of the capital.

How the Penza Gangsters Ended Up in Moscow

Yesterday, 3 February, shots were fired on Rublyovskoye Highway. Police officers tried to disarm and detain two thugs wanted for murder since 29 January. According to unofficial data, the thugs were previously convicted of double murder, 41-year-old Mikhail Leontiev, and his accomplice, 38-year-old Alexei Lanchikov.

Leontiev and Lanchikov were wanted on suspicion of kidnapping and murdering 39-year-old Grigory, reported Moskovsky Komsomolets. An alert with their descriptions was sent to police departments.

Love Feuds in 90s Style?

According to data from social media, the victim worked at a factory that manufactures and supplies special-purpose telecommunications and communication equipment. Two days before the abduction, he had a birthday.

The Investigative Committee stated that the kidnapping and murder in Penza occurred «due to personal relationship issues and for mercenary motives.» According to Moskovsky Komsomolets, one of the thugs, Leontiev, had been dating the wife of the kidnapped and murdered man since 2023.

According to MK, six months ago the woman gave birth to a child and the lover demanded she take a DNA test, but she refused. At some point the love drama got out of control, and on the night of 28 to 29 January, two men kidnapped and killed the 39-year-old resident of Penza.

As the Investigative Committee clarified, it was a «robbery with violence dangerous to life.» The thugs stole money and jewelry from the victim and his wife.

Meanwhile, the body of the murdered man in Penza has not yet been found. After the robbery and murder, the men went on the run. They reached Samara and there hired a driver.

Taxi Driver’s Body Found in Moscow: Second Victim

They offered the taxi driver 85,000 rubles ($944 at current rates) for a trip from Samara to Moscow, and he agreed, according to the Investigative Committee. The driver himself, 34-year-old Vladimir Terentyev, was from Ulyanovsk Oblast.

The last time he contacted his relatives was around 8 p.m. on 31 January. He said he was going to Moscow and would return late. However, he never made it home, and his phone was offline. Worried relatives contacted the police, and an active search began.

«We first filed a report with the police, and they wrote to the search and rescue group, to «LizaAlert»… And today they found him dead,» the mother of the deceased driver told MSK1.RU.

The taxi driver’s body was found in a white Lada in the capital’s Filyovsky Park district, not far from the site of the shootout with law enforcement. As the Investigative Committee states, the suspects refused to pay for the trip.

The driver’s relatives suggest that Vladimir heard or saw something that made him a dangerous witness for the criminals.

At the same time, investigators clarified that they are continuing «to identify the person who inflicted the fatal wound on the taxi driver.»

One Died in Shootout with Police

Following a lead, police found the kidnappers Leontiev and Lanchikov in the stairwell of an apartment building on Rublyovskoye Highway, at building No. 109. During the arrest, they opened fire, resisting, so the police used their weapons in response.

Then, as Moskovsky Komsomolets reports, one of the suspects died — 41-year-old Leontiev. He opened fire and was himself hit by a bullet from a service weapon.

As residents of neighboring houses told MSK1.RU, it all happened not late in the evening, when most locals were at work.

«I didn’t hear anything, I came home around 6 p.m. and saw ambulances and police cars,» a Muscovite told MSK1.RU. «There were 3–4 ambulances, I only saw that there were many people near the entrance. About an hour later, the ambulances left, but the police stayed for a long time.»

Currently, as investigators report, a number of criminal cases have been opened. One of them concerns an attempt on the life of a law enforcement officer. Also, cases have been opened on the facts of murders, illegal weapons possession, and robbery.

Earlier, MSK1.RU reported that in Ufa, a schoolboy broke into an educational institution with a weapon in his hands. We published the details in our article.