Surveillance camera footage cited by Fontanka shows the woman had managed to open the door and step inside before the attacker pulled her back out by force. She was taken to hospital, where she died.

After the attack the man ran roughly half a kilometre, called the emergency number 112 and reported what he had done. He was detained a few minutes later. A murder case was opened under part 2, article 105 of the Criminal Code, the clause covering killing with particular cruelty. A decision on his arrest is pending.

Outlets differ on the victim's age: Fontanka, Mediazona and Baza reported she was 25, while Meduza said she was 27. According to Fontanka and Baza, her former partner beat her regularly. In September she left him and went into hiding; the man first reported her missing to police and then continued searching for her himself. Baza reported that on the day of the attack the woman had come to the centre for help and he was waiting for her at the entrance.

Outlet 78 named the detained man as Yagub Suleimanov. According to its reporting, a court fined him 70,000 rubles in 2018 in a case of failing to report a planned crime. Case materials said that in 2017 an acquaintance, Yevgeny Yefimov, told him of plans to rent a garage to make explosives; Suleimanov tried to talk him out of it but did not go to the authorities. His defence lawyer told the court he had tried to dissuade his acquaintance. Two other defendants in the failure-to-report case, Aliskhan Esmurziyev and Shamil Omargadzhiyev, spoke of torture by Federal Security Service (FSB) officers.

Novaya Gazeta Europe, citing media reports, said Suleimanov is 28, was born in Azerbaijan, holds Russian citizenship and lived in Dagestan. He has three children, the youngest with the woman he killed; she left him with the child in September.

Russia has been trying for more than 10 years to pass a law on domestic violence. The New People party made another attempt in 2024, but the government did not support the idea. In 2026, Andrei Klishas, head of the Federation Council committee on constitutional legislation, said that "Russia has not yet found its own path in the fight against domestic violence that would win support across different segments of society." Nina Ostanina, head of the State Duma committee on family protection, has said a domestic violence law could deter men from marriage.