A robber shot dead three employees of a private security firm and seriously wounded another one in Karavan shopping mall in Kyiv on Wednesday afternoon, Interfax-Ukraine learned at Kyiv police department.

The wounded man is in critical state, the police said.

The police received a call about the incident at 1504 on Wednesday.

According to preliminary information, one of the security guards saw a visitor stealing a USB flash drive from a glass case. The guard asked the man to go to the back room, where other guards were waiting.

In the room the man pulled out a gun and started shooting, killing three security guards on the spot and seriously wounding the fourth one. The attacker then fled the scene.

The police are currently invetigating at the shopping mall.