A former Ukrainian member of parliament, Andriy Portnov, has been confirmed dead after being shot by yet-to-be-identified gunmen outside an American school in the Spanish capital, Madrid.
The attack occurred shortly after Portnov had dropped his children off at the school in the Pozuelo de Alarcón area of the city.
The shooting as gathered, took place around 9:15 a.m. while children were still arriving at the school.
According to reports, one of the unidentified assailants fired several shots at the victim before fleeing into a wooded area in a nearby public park.
An eyewitness said he heard five or six gunshots, which he initially mistook for firecrackers, until a woman who rushed to Portnov’s aid began screaming.
Confirming the incident, Spanish emergency services at the scene disclosed that Portnov had suffered multiple bullet wounds to the back and head.
In response, police launched a manhunt, deploying drones and a helicopter to search for the gunman, who witnesses described as a thin man in a blue tracksuit.
Further reports from Spanish media indicated that the attacker may have had at least one accomplice, believed to be riding a motorbike. However, several hours after the shooting, no arrests had been made.
While the former lawmaker’s body has been taken for a post-mortem examination, the motive for the attack remains unclear.
Portnov had served as an MP and deputy head in the administration of Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian president ousted in 2014 after months of protests.
He was also previously a member of Yulia Tymoshenko’s governing party, but switched allegiance to Yanukovych after his presidential victory in 2010.
Following the 2014 revolution, Portnov fled Ukraine but returned in 2019 after Volodymyr Zelensky was elected president.
