Were these people innocent, you be the judge,
1) They fail to stop at 2 police checkpoints when they were on a car.
2) At the third check point, a police officer joins them in the car to escort them to the FC check post for confirmation of legality of documents. A few kilometres from where he got on, the police officer is found lying on a road having been struck on the head with a hard object.
3) They reach the FC check post and hurl a grenade at troops stationed there injuring three, one would later expire in hospital.
4) They ditch their ride and make their way over to the FC check post where news of their due arrival has already been communicated through wireless, as the ladies distract the FC and police by waving their hands as if surrendering, one of the males pulls the pin out of 2 grenades, which leads to the shooting and it explodes near the Chechyans, presence of splinters and shrapnel in 4 out of 5 bodies has been confirmed in autopsy report.
They were all but innocent, but I must agree the indiscriminate firing was a poor example of law enforcement. Two bullets per head would have been plenty and much cleaner.