Turkish Official: Envoy’s Killer Unlikely to Have Been Alone

Turkish Official: Envoy’s Killer Unlikely to Have Been Alone
Flowers lay next to a portrait in memory of Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov, who was fatally shot by a Turkish policeman Monday in a gathering in Ankara, Turkey, before their talks on Syria in Moscow, Russia on Dec. 20, 2016. Maxim Shemetov/Pool photo via AP
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ANKARA, Turkey—The Turkish policeman who assassinated Russia’s ambassador was unlikely to have acted alone, a senior Turkish government official said Tuesday, as investigators from both countries hunted for clues as to who might have been behind the killing.

Russian investigators arrived in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Tuesday morning and headed to the art gallery where Ambassador Andrei Karlov was shot dead Monday evening by Mevlut Mert Altintas. The 22-year-old gunman, a member Ankara’s riot police squad, shouted slogans about the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo as he killed the envoy.

The senior government official described the killing as “fully professional, not a one-man action” and said the attack was well-planned. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release details to the press.

Turkish authorities have not publicly released any information on the investigation or on a possible motive for the policeman.

A man identified as Mevlut Mert Altintas holds up a gun after shooting Andrei Karlov, the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, at a photo gallery in Ankara, on Dec. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)
A man identified as Mevlut Mert Altintas holds up a gun after shooting Andrei Karlov, the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, at a photo gallery in Ankara, on Dec. 19, 2016. AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici