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Seeing the said group of servicemen and noticing that Moskalev was not among them, fearing that these persons would prevent him from finding and killing Moskalev, the drunk Gaev at the moment when Private Dmitriev tried to approach him, shouted: "Do not come!" - and immediately, from a distance of 4-5 meters, shot Dmitriev in the chest and killed him.
At the same time, Gaev decided to kill the commander of the unit, Major Zaiko, and not only because he and the other servicemen standing with him could interfere with the murder of Moskalev, but also because in the last period of his service he, Gaev, showed dissatisfaction with the official activities of Major Zaiko, namely the fact that the latter delayed the discharge of Gaev to the reserve and shortly before November 23, 1970, punished him for drinking alcohol and unauthorized withdrawal from the unit.
In this regard, after the murder of Dmitriev, Gaev began to shoot at Major Zaiko and Private Gorbunov.
During this firing, Gorbunov was mortally wounded in the stomach with one bullet and fragments of a ricocheted and torn second bullet - in the soft tissue of his left hand. The wounded Gorbunov fled to the entrance gates of the unit, located about 35 meters from the barracks, and fell there. Gaev continued to shoot at Zaiko, pursued him when he tried to hide behind the barracks, shooting at him there. Directly at Zaiko, Gaev fired at least six shots. Zaiko was killed by five shots from behind, and with one shot that did not hit the body of the victim, his cap was broken.
Private Chukhonin at the beginning of the shooting of Gaev managed to run into the barracks, where he shouted: "Gaev shoots!" or "Gaev shoots at the commander." "
