CIA Agent’s Killer Arrested, Georgians Say

Georgian authorities said Tuesday they have arrested the man who shot U.S. diplomat Fred Woodruff earlier this month, and they described the American’s death as a “chance killing.”

Woodruff, identified by U.S. officials as a CIA agent, was killed with a single bullet to the head Aug. 8 while traveling in a car with Georgian leader Eduard A. Shevardnadze’s security chief.

“The crime has been solved. The criminal has been identified, the investigation is proceeding and we expect him to go on trial,” First Deputy Interior Minister Mikhail Osadze said on Georgian radio.

He added: “The murder was not intentional, although the court will have the last word.”

Osadze, speaking later by telephone to the Reuters news agency, said the suspect, a young man, had been arrested. He refused to name him.

The man had apparently fired in an attempt to stop the car in which the 45-year-old Woodruff was traveling but had not intended to kill any of the passengers, Osadze said.

Osadze said investigators had returned with the suspect to the scene of the shooting near the village of Natakhtari, six miles from Tbilisi, the capital.