Florida Gunman Kills Six in Multi-City Shooting Spree

A Florida man allegedly murdered six people across Sarasota and Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday before taking his own life in a shocking cross-state rampage. The coordinated attacks across two major residential areas have left local communities reeling and highlight the devastating speed at which domestic violence can escalate.

Authorities discovered the gruesome scene in Sarasota’s gated Amberlea community after receiving a frantic 911 call about a man lying wounded in a front yard. Deputies arrived to find the victim outside who later died, while a subsequent tactical entry of the residence revealed four additional bodies inside the home.

Investigators quickly linked the Sarasota carnage to a double homicide discovered earlier that day in an upscale Fort Lauderdale neighborhood, located over 200 miles away. Police there had conducted a welfare check at a Victoria Park townhome, where they found a mother and her teenage son dead from gunshot wounds.

The suspect has been identified as 51-year-old Russell Kot, a resident of Fort Lauderdale who police say drove across the state specifically to continue his killing spree. Kot was found dead inside the Sarasota residence, having apparently died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound immediately after murdering the home's four occupants.

Detectives have determined that the violence stemmed from a domestic connection, as Kot had a previous romantic relationship with Larisa Blyudaya, one of the victims found in Fort Lauderdale. She was a close relative of the family targeted in Sarasota, suggesting the gunman systematically hunted down members of the same extended family.

Surveillance footage captured Kot’s vehicle traveling northbound through Punta Gorda shortly after the initial murders in South Florida, tracking his movement toward the west coast. Cameras later recorded his car entering the quiet Sarasota neighborhood at 11:01 a.m., just minutes before the second wave of violence began to unfold.

The victims in Sarasota have been identified as Olga Greinert, Florita Stolyar, Anatoly Ioffe, and Yaroslav Blyudoy, who ranged in age from 39 to 66 years old. In Fort Lauderdale, authorities identified the deceased as 46-year-old Larisa Blyudaya and her 18-year-old son, Ben Azivov, confirming the familial link between the two crime scenes.

While a clear motive for the specific timing of the attacks remains under investigation, officials have assured the public that this was an isolated incident with no further threat to the community. The tragedy has sparked an outpouring of grief across both cities as friends and neighbors struggle to comprehend the sudden, senseless loss of life.