Russian Ambassador Assassinated in Turkey

An off-duty police officer assassinated Russia's ambassador to Turkey at an art exhibition in Ankara on Monday, officials said. The gunman shouted "Do not forget Aleppo!" as he opened fire.

The shooting of Ambassador Andrey Karlov was captured on video. Russia's foreign ministry described it as a "terror attack."

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Russia has been instrumental in helping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime in its push to retake the eastern sector of Aleppo, which had been held by rebels for nearly four years.

Here's what we know right now: 

• Off-duty police officer Mevlut Mert Altintas was the gunman, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said in a press conference. The attacker was born in 1994 in the town of Soke in Turkey's Aydin province, he said.

• Turkey's official Anadolu news agency reported that the gunman had been neutralized. But it was not immediately clear whether the attacker was killed or captured by police.

• Karlov was giving a speech at the opening ceremony of a photo exhibit when the gunman opened fire.

• Images of the scene showed a body on the ground as a man wearing a suit and holding a pistol stood nearby.

• In a video circulating on social media that shows the shooting, the gunman is heard shouting, "Allahu akbar (God is greatest). Do not forget Aleppo! Do not forget Syria! Do not forget Aleppo! Do not forget Syria!"

"Get back! Get back!" the man can be heard shouting in Turkish as he waves a gun.

"Only death will remove me from here. Everyone who has taken part in this oppression will one by one pay for it," he said.

• The shooting occurred a day before diplomats from Turkey, Iran and Russia are scheduled to meet in Moscow to discuss the situation in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo.

• "We are currently in contact with Turkish authorities, who are assuring us that a thorough, comprehensive investigation will be conducted," Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in remarks broadcast on Russian television. "Murderers will be punished. Terrorism won't sustain. We'll fight it."

• "This attack shows the most disgusting and barbaric face of terrorism," Turkey's foreign ministry said in a statement, vowing to fight terrorism alongside Russia and its other allies.

• The attack occurred at the Cagdas Sanat Merkezi modern arts center in Ankara. The arts center is located in a posh, upper-middle-class neighborhood, near luxury hotels and many foreign embassies.

• Russia's foreign ministry described Karlov as an "outstanding diplomat."

"He's a diplomat who's contributed a lot in fighting terrorism during his career," Zakharova said.

The ambassador began his diplomatic career in 1976 and has been the envoy to Turkey since 2013, according to a profile on the website for the Russian Embassy in Ankara.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke on the phone after the shooting to discuss the details of Karlov's death, according to Russia's state-run Sputnik News Agency.

Article sourced from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/19/europe/turkey-russian-ambassador-shot/index.html