Four people standing trial in Moscow have been killed after a gunfight broke out in the court building.
Some of the 11 defendants accused of murdering more than a dozen motorists are reported by Russian media to have tried to grab firearms from security officers and attempted to take hostages.
Diana Tatosova, a lawyer for the defendants, said she had been told by the chief investigator in the case that four of the defendants had been killed.
Two other people have been injured after the gunfight broke out in a courtroom in a suburb of the city.
Moscow region’s health ministry said that a 45-year-old man and 40-year-old woman were taken to hospital from the Moscow Regional Court with gunshot wounds.
Russian news agencies earlier quoted a lawyer who was at the courthouse and saw a guard and a court official injured.
Authorities said the incident took place during a hearing in a case of a gang suspected of killing more than a dozen of motorists.
Russia media dubbed the accused “the Grand Theft Auto gang” after the violent video game.
The men on trial are accused of terrorising Moscow motorists over several months in 2014.
Prosecutors said the gang members were placing spikes on roads, forcing the motorists out of their vehicles and shooting them dead.
The nine men, all from Central Asia, are charged with 17 murders and two attempted murders.
