‘Demon Fighter’ Takes Hostage, Demands Camera Death

A “demon fighter” from the Russian Volga region's Republic of Mari El took a woman hostage and demanded a lethal injection in front of TV cameras “to fight dark forces in the Underworld,” the republic’s acting police chief said on Wednesday. The 29-year-old unemployed man, armed with a hunting rifle, took a 44-year-old woman hostage in her apartment in the republic’s capital Yoshkar-Ola late on Tuesday.“The man called the police, demanding a TV crew and a lethal injection, so that he could publicly commit suicide and 'go to the Underworld to fight dark forces,'” Mari El acting police chief Andrei Bratukhin said. The local MariMedia news portal said the hostage-taker was heard screaming to give him “a lethal injection to save Christ.” He was detained after a police officer, posing as a journalist, persuaded him to open the apartment door. The man, who already attempted to commit suicide in 2010, faces up to 15 years in prison.