Wild bear shot after running amok in Russia’s Far East

Mall security staff and police numbering 20 in all sought to isolate the bear inside the shopping centre but without success.

A Russian brown bear has gone on an after-hours rampage in a provincial shopping mall, smashing storefronts before being shot dead in a nearby kindergarten by local law enforcement officers.

The bear entered the mall in Khabarovsk, near the Chinese border on Tuesday night and barged out of a door.

“And then I heard doors breaking, I looked there and thought maybe there was a scuffle or something, and then I saw the bear, galloping like this past me”.

She added: “I was scared, I flattened myself against the chair”.

The video, released on YouTube by MestoproTV, shows officers wearing a camouflage uniform shooting at the bear before it is killed.

Natalya Kovalenko, an animal rights activist, told Russian state-run website Vesti.ru that the bear, between 2 to 3 years old, was smoked out of the mall before it was shot.

The Investigative Committee, Russia’ main state investigative agency, have launched an investigation into the legitimacy of the police action.

Once outside, it was shot dead by a police SWAT team.