Russian security officer dies in shootout at Federal Security Service in Moscow

At least two people were killed Thursday in a shootout at the Federal Security Service, Russia’s successor to the KGB, in downtown Moscow, according to Western and Russian news media.

The Federal Security Service, or FSB, said one of the fatalities was a security officer.

The FSB, which said there was only one attacker, said the gunman was “neutralized” – a term used when an assailant is killed, according to The Associated Press.

The Health Ministry said five people were wounded in the shooting, including two security officers.

The attacker barricaded himself in a nearby building, where he was killed by security troops, the RT news agency reported.

RT initially said as many as three attackers were involved in the attack near the reception room of the FSB, about eight blocks from the Kremlin.

In a video shared on social media, loud shots and bangs can be heard.

Robert Anchipolovsky, an Israeli musician, was on the way to his concert in Moscow when he started filming the street from his car. As he started filming, the shooting began.

“I thought it was fireworks, and then I saw how police started to fall on the tarmac and crouch down,” Anchipolovsky told AP.

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The Izvestia newspaper said an assault rifle or a Russian Saiga semiautomatic rifle was used in the attack.

The FSB building is at Lubyanka Square where a statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, founder of the predecessor to the KGB, was toppled in 1991 in the early hours of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Russian news agencies said President Vladimir Putin was informed of the shooting, which erupted on the day that Putin, a former KGB officer, held his annual four-hour news conference.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Moscow shooting: At least 2 dead, including FSB officer