Three Russians die in escape attempt

MOSCOW — In an attempt to escape, five defendants accused of multiple murders wrested weapons from their escorts Tuesday at a Moscow courthouse, sparking a shootout with other guards in the building’s corridors, officials said.

Three of the assailants were killed and the two others were wounded and recaptured, officials said.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said the attempted getaway began while the five handcuffed men were being escorted by two guards — one male, one female — in an elevator at the Moscow Regional Court.

The defendants attacked the escorts and disarmed them, but one of the guards managed to push an alarm button.

The court’s spokesman, Natalya Osipova, said the assailants took the two guards hostage but were quickly engaged by the courthouse’s security. She said the other four defendants facing charges in the same criminal case were in a separate room when the shootout happened.

A guard wounded in the gunbattle was rushed to a hospital, as were the two guards attacked in the elevator, the committee said.

The defendants, all from former Soviet territory in central Asia, were accused of killing 17 motorists near Moscow in a series of attacks in 2012-14.