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Russian snowboarding champion Koltsov shot and killed in Los Angeles — media

Russia’s embassy in the United States is probing into the incident

MOSCOW, June 14. /TASS/. /TASS/. Russian snowboarding champion Dmitry Koltsov was shot and killed in Los Angeles, California, the Los Angeles Times reported on Friday.

According to the newspaper, charges were brought against Rhett McKenzie Nelson, 30, who reportedly shot at Koltsov from his car on June 10. The 31-year-old athlete died at the scene. Nelson also shot at another man who was with Koltsov. The man was not injured.

On the same day, Nelson shot dead Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy, Joseph Solano.

Apart from that, Nelson was charged with robbery. He allegedly robbed a gas station and a supermarket on the same day. The man was arrested and is facing either a capital punishment or a life sentence.

Meanwhile, Russia’s embassy in the United States said on Friday it was probing into Koltsov’s murder reports. "We have learnt about the tragic death of Russian citizen Dmitry Koltson in Los Angeles from the mass media. We are probing into incident. We have filed inquiries with the US authorities. We maintain contact with Koltsov’s relatives," the embassy wrote on its Twitter account.

Koltsov is the bronze medalist of the 2010 Russian championship in Snowboard Big Air and the silver medalist of the 2012 Open Championships in Switzerland in Halfpipe.