Russian priest stabbed to death by arsonist – prosecutors

An altercation at a church in the Moscow suburb of Domodedovo, has left a priest dead, investigators reported on Wednesday. The perpetrator, who was apprehended, is thought to be former Sunday school teacher, well known to the deceased.

The death of Father Sergey Lopukhov, the archpriest of the St. Nicolas Church in Domodedovo, was confirmed by the Moscow Region Investigative Committee.

According to the prosecutors’ report, the victim took the 22-year-old male suspect by surprise as he was trying to start a fire inside a room of the Sunday school hosted by the church. The perpetrator stabbed the priest, delivering a fatal injury, investigators said.

Some media outlets said the cleric was discovered by firefighters responding to the fire. They reportedly found him bleeding out from multiple stab wounds at the stairs of the school building.

The prosecutors released footage from the scene, showing what presumably was the blurred-out body of the victim lying by the front door and officers inspecting the charred interior of the site of the arson.

Law enforcement said the suspect, a local resident, was apprehended shortly after the knife attack. The statement said the motive for the crime is yet to be established.

News outlet Baza claimed that the perpetrator is a former teacher at the Sunday school. Father Sergey allegedly disciplined him for making inappropriate advances toward one of his female teenage students. Baza claimed that the attacker did not try to flee the scene of the crime and surrendered to police when they arrived.