Pskov's Bonnie and Clyde

Denis Muravyov Katerina Vlasova
Muravyov shoots at the police car during the broadcast
Location	Kudryavtsev Street, Strugi Krasnye, Russia
Coordinates	58.267686°N 29.105075°E / 58.267686; 29.105075
Date	14 November 2016
Attack type	Shootout
Weapons	Two double-barreled shotguns Tokarev TT pistol Knife (unused)
Deaths	2 (Both perpetrators)
Injured	1 (Vlasova's mother)
Perpetrators	Denis Muravyov, Katerina Vlasova
Motive	Quarrel with relatives, desire for popularity

Denis Olegovich Muravyov (August 14, 2001 – November 14, 2016) and Katerina Alekseevna Vlasova (September 10, 2001 – November 14, 2016) were two 15-year-old teenagers from Pskov, Russia who barricaded themselves in a private house in Strugi Krasnye on the afternoon of November 14, 2016 and opened fire on police officers before committing suicide. They showed the whole event on their social media pages, broadcasting on Periscope and calling themselves the Russian Bonnie and Clyde. The case caused a wide resonance and discussion online.

Background

Denis Muravyev and Katya Vlasova met at school in the spring of 2016. After meeting, Muravyev and Vlasova added each other in VKontakte. The two continued to meet in person and soon began dating.

His mother found out that Denis had a lover by accident: during spring break, her son went to spend the night at a friend's house. It turned out that that evening Denis had gone to Katerina's house for a walk. After that incident, his mother forbade Denis to communicate with Katerina.

Course of events

On the morning of 11 November, Muravyev parents noticed that their son had left home and his phone was turned off. Warm clothes, a knife, and an alcoholic beverage were missing from the house. A few days before the incident, Denis stole his mother's bank card from her purse. At around 6 a.m., he withdrew money from the card and bought two tickets for a minibus to Strug Krasnykh. The parents began searching for Muravyov and filed a report with the police. Katerina's family did not participate in the search for their daughter, although they reported that she had not been home for two days. The search for Denis and Katerina continued throughout the weekend, but was unsuccessful. On the afternoon of 14 November, the teenagers were found in a dacha house 80 kilometers from Pskov, belonging to the Vlasova's stepfather. There the schoolchildren had been hiding from their parents for three days and planned to “sit out". On November 12, Muravyov contacted his stepsister, who lived in Saint Petersburg, and asked her to rent an apartment for him and Katya in the city. The teenagers planned to travel there on BlaBlaCar on Monday, November 14.

The teenagers barricaded themselves in the room, opened the stepfather's safe, which contained several weapons, including two double-barreled shotguns, and a Tokarev TT pistol, which they would go on to use in the shootout. Upon learning that the teenagers were there, Vlasova's mother decided to go looking for them. Muravyov shot the girl's mother in the thigh with a rifle when she arrived at the address. Vlasova's mother sent a message to Denis's mother asking her to come to her, writing that there was shooting going on. The teenagers started a broadcast on the Periscope platform, going live five times during the events — the broadcasts lasted from four and a half to 55 minutes.

On Monday, a police car pulled up to a house on Kudryavtseva Street. Teenagers opened fire on it from a second-floor window. Initially, the officers believed that Denis was holding Katerina hostage and demanded that he release her. One of the police officers managed to get through to Denis and persuaded him to hand over all the weapons in the house. The teenagers agreed to give the weapons to Denis's mother. After counting the weapons, the police decided that Denis and Katya had not handed over everything, but the teenagers claimed: «only a ladle remained in the house». After arriving at the home of the owner of the weapons, Katerina's stepfather, the officers confirmed that the teenagers still had weapons. After the teenagers handed over the weapons, Denis's mother returned to them, they continued their conversation, Denis's mother asked him not to worry about what had happened and tried to convince him that «nothing terrible would happen», and promised them that she «would not abandon them and would do everything they wanted». After the conversation, Denis and Katerina asked for 40 minutes to think everything over and then they would come out. After the time had passed, Denis asked for another 5 minutes. SWAT officers decided to begin the assault.

According to investigators, the officers did not use their weapons, and after the SWAT team stormed the house, the teenagers were found dead. According to Denis' mother, during the raid there were two loud bangs, a bright flash, and smoke coming from the doors.

Before the suicide, the teenagers posted identical farewell messages to their relatives on their VKontakte pages, accusing them of “destroying their psyche and lives".

«I loved you, but you yourself didn't notice how you destroyed my psyche and my life. Goodbye to all my friends, family and acquaintances. Don't worry, I will leave beautifully. Good luck to everyone in your life and please don't be afraid to live life the way you want or think you should. Living life at your own pleasure is the best life. Love you» — the girl wrote

The exact same entry appeared on Denis's page.

Investigation

Muravyev and Vlasova's parents were recognized as victims, and several criminal cases were opened, including negligence, negligent storage of firearms, and abuse of power by law enforcers. About 50 police officers, relatives of the victims, witnesses to the incident and classmates of the teenagers were questioned.

A postmortem psychological and psychiatric forensic examination of adolescents was scheduled at the Serbsky Center for Psychiatry.

The Investigative Committee for the Pskov region stated that the employees negotiated for several hours, but no result was achieved. Later, the teenagers stopped contacting each other, and this was the reason for the storming started.

According to a representative of the Department of Internal Affairs in the Pskov region, law enforcers went to the village of Strugi Krasnye to check information about Muravyev, who had been reported missing. When the police officers were fired upon, they blocked the building and entered into negotiations with the teenagers. The teenagers did not make any demands.

The investigation resulted in several criminal cases, many of which were subsequently closed.

Charging law enforcers with murdering teenagers

A number of media outlets and online users speculated and accused law enforcers of deliberately killing the teens. Prosecutors claimed that the pair committed suicide before the SWAT team approached their room. On the live feed, the teens discussed that they did not want to commit suicide and that they had no ammunition left to fight a gunfight. The version that Muravyev shot Vlasova and then himself contradicts their words about the lack of ammunition. Social media reacted to this contradiction. Since Rosgvardia, claims that the police special forces did not open fire during the attack, some users speculate that the teens may have lied that they ran out of ammunition.

A police officer who failed to check a report of missing teenagers in the Pskov region was charged with negligence. After receiving a report about the missing minors, the officer failed to organize proper verification of the report, collecting and studying data about the personalities and social circle of the teenagers.

Denis Muravyev's family stated that they believed the officers who arrived on the scene acted wrongly, leaving the teenagers with no choice other than suicide.

Popularity and online discussions

This event instantly became a topic of discussion among the peers of the deceased teenagers. Groups dedicated to Muravyev and Vlasova began to appear on social networks. Young people quote them in their statuses, write posts calling them “defenseless and freedom fighters”, and compose fanfics. The total number of subscribers to the groups amounted to almost 25,000. 60% of them are girls. Romantic interpretations of the event appeared online. Teenagers began to be compared to Bonnie and Clyde - famous American robber-lovers.

MP Elena Mizulina, on her Twitter page, blamed the incident on computer games.

According to 51% of Russians who have heard about the incident, their parents are to blame for what happened. Such data follows from the results of a survey by the All-Russian Center for Public Opinion Research.

Aftermath

At the end of November 2016, Muravyov's stepfather, on the advice of mutual acquaintances, contacted Lev Shlosberg, a deputy and chairman of the Pskov branch of the «Yabloko» party, on VKontakte. The deputy helped the family draft letters demanding that criminal cases be opened by the Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor General's Office and sent parliamentary inquiries on his own behalf. Shlosberg's argument for helping with the case was the unreliable version of the investigation that the Investigative Committee actively disseminated in the media, namely that Denis first killed Katerina and then committed suicide. The deputy stated that he had every reason to believe that «this version is at least hasty, if not erroneous». According to Shlosberg, the regional authorities should have acted according to a completely different protocol and, in accordance with the regulations, brought in a psychologist, negotiator, or specialist in communicating with children to negotiate with the teenagers. According to Shlosberg, one of the versions of death is that during the assault the teenagers offered armed resistance to the SWAT team as well, as a result of which they had to be shot dead.

Following the incident, State Duma Deputy Speaker Irina Yarovaya and Children's Ombudsman Anna Kuznetsova called for tighter control over the internet, as they believe that online communities and destructive groups are promoting suicide among minors.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said that after the incident, Russia will reform the psychological support services in schools.

In popular culture

• The incident was followed by an episode with the title «Why?» of the Russian talk show «Let them talk» with Andrey Malakhov, dedicated to the events with the teenagers.
• «Death Online» issue of the TV program «Central Television» on NTV channel is devoted to the investigation of the case of teenagers.
• In 2018, singer Diana Arbenina collaborated with the Russian rock band «Nochnye Snaipery» to record a song about the history of teenagers. Director Valeria Germanika shot a music video based on the song.
• British composer Philip Venables adapted the event into an opera called Denis & Katya. It premiered in Philadelphia in 2019 and in the United Kingdom in 2020.
• In March 2021, a play based on the story of teenagers was staged in Tyumen. The production took the form of monologues, in which the participants shared their personal experiences of the incident.
• On June 23, 2022, the Russian crime drama «Interseason» based on the case of teenagers was released.
• In the song «Golosami» («Voices») by the Russian rock band «Operation Plasticine» contains an allusion to the story of teenagers.