At least nine people have been killed after a lone teenage gunman opened fire at a school in the Russian city of Kazan, regional officials said Tuesday.
The victims at Kazan’s School No. 175 some 820 kilometers east of Moscow include one teacher, one female school employee and seven eighth-grade students — four boys and three girls, the republic of Tatarstan’s head Rustam Minnikhanov told state media.
Minnikhanov added that 18 students and three adults have been hospitalized with injuries of varying severity.
President Vladmir Putin has ordered an “urgent” tightening of gun control restrictions in the wake of the shooting, which took place on the first day back to school after a 10-day holiday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Video posted by Telegram news channels shows children jumping out of the school’s windows to the sounds of gunfire. The state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported that two more students died after jumping from a third-floor window, citing a source in the emergency services, but these deaths have not been confirmed.
Officers detained the shooter, whose official motive remains unclear. Russian media outlets identified him as School No. 175 graduate Ilnaz Galyaviyev, 19, and reported that he announced his plans to commit the shooting on social media.
The shooter’s gun was licensed, according to regional officials.
The REN-TV Telegram channel published footage of Galyaviyev in his psychiatric evaluation in detention, where he can be seen saying that a “monster has started to grow inside of me” and he began to hate everyone “even more.”
The regional Interior Ministry has denied that there were any accomplices after initial reports said that officers had killed a second shooter.
Eyewitnesses had reported an explosion at the school ahead of the shooting.
The regional prosecutor’s office in the republic of Tatarstan said it has begun looking into the shooting and the regional prosecutor was deployed to the scene.
Minnikhanov also arrived at the school, according to the Kommersant business daily.
Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case of mass murder.
Tatarstan authorities said the victims’ families will receive 1 million rubles ($13,500) in compensation, while those who were injured will receive between 200,000 and 400,000 rubles ($2,700-$5,400) each.
Source:themoscowtimes.com/2021/05/11/