A man released from a high-security psychiatric hospital decapitated an 18-month-old girl and carried the head in a public street in Astrakhan, southern Russia.
Mikhail Elinsky, 42, also stabbed his niece, the mother of the child, who was left with abdominal injuries but survived the attack, reports say.
After killing the toddler, he was seen displaying her head in public and brandishing a knife at police officers.
Mr Elinsky, who had been previously convicted of killing a woman six years ago and diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was eventually shot by police and taken to hospital where he later died.
The man had been receiving treatment at a high-security psychiatric hospital before being released.
The mother of the victim, known as Tatiana, had asked authorities not to release Mr Elinsky as she feared he still posed a risk to the community.
She described how she attempted to save her daughter before being stabbed.
“We were about to go out, and my daughter was sitting on her tricycle,” she said.
“He pulled her off, grabbed her and took her to the kitchen. He closed the door and began to cut her.
“I tried to stop him and ran to the kitchen but he stabbed me in the stomach with his knife.”
The man was released from custody a month prior to the attack, according to Astrakhan-24 TV.
