AMBERLEA, Fla. — A horrifying chain of events unfolded Thursday as a shooting rampage left six people dead across two counties in Florida. Authorities have now identified Russell Kot, 51, as the suspected gunman, who was also found deceased at the scene. The violence spanned from Fort Lauderdale’s affluent Victoria Park neighborhood to a gated community in Sarasota County, approximately 200 miles apart.
The chaos began Tuesday morning, when the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call about a man shot in a home located in the Amberlea neighborhood. Responding deputies arrived swiftly, finding the victim in his front yard while neighbors performed CPR. The man later succumbed to his injuries. Concerned for the safety of the victim’s wife, law enforcement entered the residence, discovering four additional victims inside: two men and two women.
As investigators worked to piece together the events leading to the shootings, they received information from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department about a double homicide in their area. The two victims—Larisa Blyudaya, 46, and her son Ben Azivov, 18—were discovered dead in their home, prompting the search for a possible connection between the two incidents.
Witnesses reported seeing Kot’s vehicle traveling north through Punta Gorda shortly after the Fort Lauderdale shootings. Enhanced surveillance footage from Amberlea, provided by homeowners’ association representatives, revealed Kot’s vehicle entering the neighborhood around 11:01 a.m. A neighbor’s security camera then captured the chilling sound of gunfire shortly thereafter.
Approximately 37 minutes later, the man who was shot at the Amberlea residence appeared on video arriving in his vehicle. As he approached the front door, he was fatally wounded. No further individuals were seen entering or leaving the home before law enforcement responded.
The victims in Sarasota were later identified as Olga Greinert, 49, Florita Stolyar, 67, Anatoly Ioffe, 61, and Yaroslav Blyudaya, 39. Investigators confirmed that Kot had a romantic history with one of the victims from Fort Lauderdale, but the nature of his relationship with the Sarasota victims remains unclear.
As the investigation continues, law enforcement officials are piecing together the circumstances that led to this tragic series of events. Homicide detectives are meticulously examining both crime scenes, seeking to understand the motivations behind this senseless violence that has struck two communities in a single day.