A Twin Cities man suspected of killing his ex-wife and her husband outside their Illinois home has died days after shooting himself during a standoff with Edina police, a spokeswoman for the department confirmed on Monday.
Anatoliy Ermak, 64, was taken to HCMC on Friday after police say he shot himself while police encircled the car he was in outside of a residential apartment complex in the 6000 block of Vernon Avenue. He died just after 7 a.m. Monday, police spokeswoman Kaylin Eidsness said.
Officers initially responded to the complex about 8 p.m. Friday on a tip from nearby residents who recognized his vehicle, police said. There they found an armed man, now identified as Ermak, sitting in a white Nissan Versa hatchback. The car matched the description of a vehicle with Florida plates rented by Ermak before the double murder, police said.
Over the next 90 minutes, a negotiator tried to communicate with Ermak, but he remained in the car and ultimately shot himself once, police said. No one else was injured.
Police in Buffalo Grove, Ill., said that Ermak was wanted in the shooting deaths of Nataliya Ermak and Roman Frid in the small town about an hour's drive northwest of Chicago. Ermak, 55, and her husband, Frid, 69, were fatally shot Nov. 17 in their condominium parking garage.
Surveillance footage showed Ermak lying in wait for the couple as they pulled into their underground parking space. Police say he briefly spoke to the pair, shot them at close range and left through a side door.
A warrant was issued for his arrest on Wednesday on two counts of first-degree murder.
According to a report in the Chicago Tribune, Anatoliy Ermak and Nataliya Ermak divorced eight years ago. Investigators are still piecing together a clear motive for the killings.
Court records show that Ermak's last known address was the Edina complex where police confronted him. He and Nataliya purchased the property together in 2004 and appeared as co-owners on legal documents as recently as this year.
Ermak has a previous criminal conviction in Hennepin County for disorderly conduct. In 2007, police went twice to the home on domestic assault calls, according to the Pioneer Press.
Staff writer Liz Sawyer contributed to this report.
Libor Jany • 612-673-4064
