Two workers renovating an apartment in the town of Onești (Ónfalva in Hungarian) in Bacău (Bákó) County were held as hostages and then killed on Monday by the former owner, who was angry that he had been evicted a decade ago. Police opened fire at the aggressor and wounded him.
According to the Bacău County Police Department, authorities were informed on Monday afternoon that a man had isolated himself with two other people in an apartment building on Stirenului Street. The two men were renovating the apartment, which used to be owned by the aggressor.
According to the Mediafax News Agency, the perpetrator, a 68-year-old man, stabbed the two victims, who both died — one at the scene and the other in transit to the hospital.
In the town, 55 kilometers from the Moldavian county seat, a large number of police officers and gendarmes arrived on the scene. The perpetrator acted violently with the authorities while also threatening his two hostages with a knife.
According to the medical director of the Onești hospital, Anca Băncescu, a 36-year-old man, who had been stabbed multiple times and whose heart and breathing had stopped, was transferred to their emergency room. CPR successfully brought him back to life, but his breathing and heart beat stopped again not too long after, and his life could not be saved. The other hostage also died.
The aggressor was transferred to the hospital as well with multiple gunshot wounds because he was shot by the police after they entered the apartment following a three-hour, unsuccessful negotiation to release the hostages. The police’s special forces entered the apartment after they heard screaming inside.
On Tuesday, Mediafax reported on a video the perpetrator had posted three years ago on social media, in which he spoke about how he and his family were evicted from their apartment and in which he was threatening to seek justice with a firearm. According to the video, the eviction took place 11 years ago in 2010 while he was abroad, and he says his daughter was threatened with a gun by one of the gendarmes to get out of the house. He also says in the video posted in October 2018, that until that time he had still never seen an eviction order and that he had not been able to recover his belongings since 2010, when the eviction happened.
“I tried to get my things back from the apartment, but absolutely nothing could be done. My family was thrown out onto the street; they were not allowed to take anything from the apartment at all. Moreover, they took their keys and sealed the apartment, which remained under their custody… My family was threatened with a firearm. If this situation is not cleared up, I will seek justice with a firearm! I’m not kidding,” he concluded his speech.
Title image: The aggressor from Onești went out to the balcony at one point together with the two workers he had taken hostage. (Photo: Digi2 video capture)
