At least 17 people, including 11 children, have died and many have been injured in a school shooting in Russia. The shooting was "a terrorist act," according to the Kremlin, and was carried out by a former student of the institution who later committed suicide.
The incident happened on Monday morning in School No. 88 in Izhevsk, an area of the Udmurtia region 960 kilometers to the east of Moscow. Children in the first through eleventh grades are taught there.
According to Russia's investigating committee, two security officers and two teachers were among the four adults and eleven children who died. Of the 24 injured individuals, just two were adults.
The gunman, Artem Kazantsev, is said to have had two firearms on him. In a video that was uploaded online by state investigators, the gunman's lifeless body is shown lying on the ground while donning a balaclava and a T-shirt bearing a Nazi insignia. Investigators are looking into his home.
According to the Russian National Guard, he fired two non-lethal handguns modified to use actual bullets. The authorities have no record of the guns. No information on his intentions has been made public yet. A criminal investigation into the incident has been opened due to allegations of numerous murders and unlawful firearm ownership. Only a few hours prior, a guy opened fire at an enrollment center in Siberia, critically wounding a recruitment officer.
The region's chief has declared a time of mourning that will extend until September 29. According to his spokesperson, Russian President Vladimir Putin is "deeply mourning" the victims and has condemned the massacre as an "inhuman terrorist attack."
This most recent incident is dreadfully similar to past school shootings that have occurred in Russia in recent years. There have been several occurrences across the nation where either a current student or a graduate returned to their school and attempted to murder as many people as they could.
Earlier attacks used hunting rifles that had been lawfully purchased; at that time, getting a license for such a weapon was practically as simple as passing a driving exam. Following the shooting at a Kazan school in May 2021 and the attack at Perm University in September of that same year, the law was tightened. However, the perpetrator in this most recent crime utilized pistols that he could only have obtained through unlawful means on the underground market.
