Civil.ge, one of the best sources of information on Georgia, reports that the Georgian media are already asking questions about the police operation that resulted in a shootout in Tbilisi and the arrest of a man of Armenian origin suspected of throwing a grenade towards where the U.S. President George Bush was addressing a crowd in the Georgian capital.

The daily 24 Saati (24 Hours) says that although the law enforcers are refraining from unveiling details of the case, there are some speculations about what happened in the Vashli-Jvari district of capital city Tbilisi, where the suspect lives.

“As it seems, the operation was unexpected even for the law enforcers. Several days ago [on July 18] the Interior Ministry issued photos of a person who allegedly tossed a grenade. A 150,000 Lari [USD 82,000] reward was announced for the citizen who could help in identifying this person. Reportedly, the police received numerous messages from citizens about the identity of the alleged suspect. The law enforcers started checking each bit of information. Three officials from the counter-terrorism center were dispatched to Vashli-Jvari district just to check one more message of this kind. According to this version, the law enforcers were not even planning a large-scale operation and their goal was just to verify the identity of Vladimer Arutunian,” the 24 Saati reported.

The daily Rezonansi (Resonance) also alleges that the law enforcers received information about Arutunian from one of his neighbors after the Interior Ministry issued the photos. But, according to the newspaper, some neighbors are doubtful about the fact that Arutunian is in fact the person in the picture which was issued by the Interior Ministry.

The paper also reports some details about the 27-year-old Arutunian and quotes several of his neighbors saying that the man lived together with his mother. “He always preferred to be isolated and was a very quiet person. His father died long ago. The family is very poor,” the Rezonansi quotes one of the neighbors.

However, questions still remain as to why an innocent man who lives with his mother would shoot one Georgian policeman dead and wound another. Of course, Hovakim over at Blogrel probably thinks that the Georgians did that to frame an ethnic Armenian. Well, given the hatred between Georgians and Armenians it’s possible. However, I’d wait on an announcement from the U.S. Government before fully understanding what happened and whether this man is innocent or guilty although that’s really for a court to decide. So far, Mosnews has this on what is known about U.S. involvement in the case.

The suspect killed a policeman in a shootout before being detained. He wounded another officer and was himself injured. At the moment he is in hospital under tight security. U.S. forces took no part in the operation, but monitored it closely, Ekho Moskvy reported. The White House is also keeping a close eye on the situation, said press secretary Scott McClellan.

Arutyunov was detained three days after his photographs were published in the Georgian media. The media reports also promised $80,000 to anyone who provided information about the suspect’s location, but it is yet unclear whether anybody received the reward, Ekho Moskvy added.

The Mosnews item can be read here while Civil.ge will probably have more updates as the day goes progresses.