Man Held in Grenade Incident at Bush Rally
A man suspected of throwing a grenade during a rally where President Bush was speaking in May was arrested Wednesday after a shootout in which a police officer was killed and another wounded, the Interior Ministry said.
The arrest took place in the village of Vashlisdzhvari, outside the capital, Tbilisi, ministry spokesman Guram Donadze said.
Rustavi 2 television showed a man it described as the suspect being hustled into a car by officers. It said he was wounded and identified him as Vladimir Arutyunov, in his late 20s.
The report, which could not immediately be confirmed, quoted neighbors as saying Arutyunov was unemployed.
The police operation came two days after authorities released a photograph of a man suspected of throwing the grenade, which failed to explode, at a podium where Bush was speaking May 10.
President Mikheil Saakashvili also was on the podium, raising the prospect that the grenade may have been directed at him.
Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili had announced a reward of about $80,000 for information leading to the identification of the man.
Bush spoke, from behind bulletproof glass, in a visit aimed at cementing relations between the U.S. and Georgia’s new pro-Western leadership.
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