A tiny village in northern Russia became the site of what some locals described as a military operation after eight men from St. Petersburg took two hostages among villagers on accusations they had damaged their Audi. T

he suspects, who were caught red handed by police, left behind one dead hostage - the second still remains to be found.

The events began to unfold Sunday afternoon in the village of Lzi in the Novgorod region, a tiny settlement that also has about a dozen regular summer visitors from St. Petersburg and nearby Novgorod.

According to witness accounts, one visitor from St. Petersburg was infuriated by what he alleged was damage to his Audi by a local resident. Instead of calling the police, he called in seven of his friends from St. Petersburg. Upon arrival, the men started shooting into the air, then confiscated the cell phones of all the villagers. At one point, they took two men they suspected of damaging the car and tied them to a tree, beating one so badly that he died the next day. Mysteriously, the second hostage was nowhere to be found by Monday - only his clothes remained by the river.

The standoff ended after about 10 p.m. when police, alerted by one of the villagers, lay in wait on the other side of the river where the attackers had parked their cars. There was no other way to get to the village other than by boat, and soon the suspects were crossing over. After a shootout with the police, all eight were arrested. A criminal investigation was immediately launched.