A 17-year-old teenager has attacked an ambulance crew with a knife in central Moscow, injuring two medical workers who required emergency hospital treatment after responding to a call at a residential address.
The teenager's 36-year-old mother had called emergency medical services to the property, according to the Russian news outlet Mash. However, upon the arrival of the emergency medical team, the young man locked himself inside the bathroom to avoid the visiting medical personnel.
When the crew members knocked on the bathroom door, the teenager suddenly opened it and lunged at the doctors with a knife. A 40-year-old paramedic and an orderly both sustained cut wounds during the assault before both men were evacuated to a local hospital for medical care.
Both the teenager and his mother are registered with a psychoneurological dispensary, Mash reported. In Russia, a psychoneurological dispensary is a specialized state-run outpatient clinic that tracks, evaluates, and treats individuals diagnosed with mental health conditions. Registration at such a facility ensures ongoing psychiatric supervision and medical monitoring under the public healthcare system.
Medical response and safety concerns
The medical crew involved in the incident included a feldsher and an orderly. In the Russian emergency medical service, a feldsher is a trained healthcare clinician who provides advanced pre-hospital care and frequently leads mobile emergency units, while orderlies provide physical assistance and operational support during medical callouts.
Emergency medical teams operating in central Moscow respond to domestic calls across the capital's central administrative district. Ambulance crews frequently enter private residences without police escort, leaving paramedics vulnerable when encountering individuals in severe psychological distress or hostile domestic environments.
The assault in central Moscow comes after another violent incident targeting emergency responders in the city earlier in the autumn. On the morning of September 1, a man described as behaving erratically launched an attack against churchgoers and an arriving ambulance crew on Belorechenskaya Street near a church.
A female paramedic suffered severe injuries in the September 1 attack before an eyewitness intervened using a personal weapon to neutralize the assailant, preventing further harm to the medical team and bystanders.
