Russian police arrests candy factory owner who fled after shooting

Russian police arrested on Thursday the former owner of a pastry factory who had returned to the plant and opened fire wounding one person before escaping a siege by special forces, according to a statement.

The man, named by investigators as Ilya Averyanov, told a radio station during the siege on Wednesday that he had acted in self-defence to stop bailiffs confiscating the factory, which is facing bankruptcy proceedings.

He said he thought he had killed a guard, but a police statement on Thursday spoke only of him wounding a person who was not identified.

A woman who said she was a former employee of the factory told the RIA news agency that there was a tunnel beneath the building through which Averyanov may have escaped.