Death of a Robber in Police Shooting in Tehran

Tehran police announced that during a chase of three thieves and robbers in Olympic Square, Tehran, a female robber was killed by gunfire and one male robber was injured. ILNA news agency reported on Monday, July 26, citing the Tehran police information center, that the third robber, who initially fled, has surrendered to the police. Iranian media have identified these individuals as "robbers" who early this morning "robbed all the documents and belongings" of a man and shortly after "contacted him by phone" stating they were willing to return his documents and belongings in exchange for "cash." The state-run IRIB news agency reported that this "robbery" occurred in the street, but Tasnim news agency reported that a man named "Sohrab" was chased by the occupants of a Peugeot 405 after withdrawing money from an ATM, and when he reached home, the robbers forcibly entered his residence. This news agency stated that the occupants of the robbers' vehicle were "two young men and a young woman." According to the report, this "robbery" took place at 1 AM on Monday, and the robbers were armed with cold weapons, who assaulted "Sohrab" after entering his home. They demanded 700,000 tomans in cash in exchange for returning his documents and belongings. Following the victim's call to the police and coordination with officers regarding the meeting place and the exchange of money and documents in Olympic Village Square, the police attempted to apprehend the robbers, but they fled. During the chase between the police and the robbers, the female occupant in the back of the car was killed by gunfire, and one of the front occupants was also injured. The other occupant of the car (the driver), who had fled, was reported to have been arrested by officers or surrendered to the police. Young Journalists Club initially reported that the vehicle that crashed in Olympic Village Square was "suspected of carrying drugs, which collided with a 206 vehicle after ignoring the police stop command while fleeing in the streets around Olympic Square and was forced to get stuck in a dead-end street." The Tehran police information center identified the robbers as having a history of "kidnapping and rape." Robbery is one of the petty crimes in Iran that has seen a significant increase in recent years, and for this reason, the police are taking harsher actions against criminals to create fear and reduce the occurrence of such crimes.