Who Was the Man Who Entered the Masis Municipality with a Grenade and Why Did He Take Such a Step?

On Friday, Edward Margaryan entered the Masis municipality armed with a grenade and subsequently committed suicide, according to police reports. According to circulating rumors in Masis, he was once an ally of the municipality’s mayor, David Hambardzumyan, and served as a member of the Masis council from 2016 to 2021, writes Hraparak.

"It has been reported that the mayor’s brother, Gor Hambardzumyan, through Margaryan, known as 'Losht Edo', carried out numerous 'deals', resulting in a debt collection issue arising between them. He had been seeking a meeting with the mayor for a long time, attempting to obtain his 'earnings'. On the day of the incident, he tried to schedule a meeting but was refused by Hambardzumyan, after which he took the weapon and went to the municipality," the newspaper noted.

It is also mentioned that Margaryan had been exhibiting some odd behavior lately, possibly related to alcohol abuse. Interestingly, even though the incident took place on Friday, the body had not been taken home from the morgue until yesterday, as relatives demanded that all injuries on the deceased's body be noted in the forensic report. They claimed that months ago he had been shot in the shoulder, and later the case was covered up, with his father insisting that this be officially recorded.

The newspaper also reports that in Masis, there is speculation that this story will have a continuation, as the deceased's older brother is quite hot-headed, and it remains unclear how he will behave after his brother's death.

It is recalled that 36-year-old Edward Margaryan entered the municipality building armed with a grenade and a firearm around 21:10 on August 19, after which an explosion occurred. During negotiations with him, gunshots were heard. Special forces of the police, led by the first deputy head of the RA Police, Aram Hovhannisyan, entered the building and discovered Edward Margaryan’s body with a gunshot wound to the head. He had committed suicide. A criminal case has been initiated under Article 308, Part 1 (terrorism) and Article 12, Part 1 (driving to suicide) of the RA Criminal Code.