15 killed in school shooting in Izhevsk

On the morning of September 26, a man opened fire in Izhevsk school No. 88. Circumstances of the incident are still unclear: Telegram channels published photos of a classroom with the door barricaded. Baza published two videos taken by schoolchildren during the incident; shots can be heard in the background.

RIA Novosti reports that 15 people have been killed as a result of the shooting, eleven children among them. Two security guards and two teachers are also among the dead. Twenty-four people were injured, including 20 schoolchildren. Some children were injured by jumping out of school windows, writes Baza.

Update: On Monday night, Moscow time, authorities in Udmurtia reported that the shooting's death toll had risen to 17.

Baza also published a video, probably taken during the evacuation of the school; it shows a rescuer helping an injured student, while police officers chase people away from the school.

The head of the region, Alexander Brechalov, announced that Udmurtia will mourn the dead until September 29.

The attacker committed suicide, the Interior Ministry said. There is no data on his identity. Baza claimed that he was dressed in Nazi symbols (this information was later confirmed by the Investigative Committee) and armed with two Makarov pistols (unconfirmed reports suggest that these might have been assault weapons). At about 12:20 the Investigative Committee published a video of the dead suspect, showing that he had a swastika on his clothes.

Around 13:00 the Investigative Committee said that the suspect’s name was Artem Kazantsev. He was a graduate of school No. 88, born in 1988. “Investigators are currently conducting a search at his place of residence. The identity of the attacker, his views, and surroundings are being studied. His adherence to neo-fascist views and Nazi ideology is being checked,” said the Investigative Committee.

Artem Kazantsev was registered at a psychoneurological dispensary, said the head of Udmurtia Alexander Brechalov. According to the Telegram channel “112”, he had not previously been tried or brought to administrative responsibility. According to Baza, the perpetrator’s guns had keychains with the names of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who in 1999 killed 13 people at Columbine High School in the United States, and the word “Columbine” on them. The word “hate” was written on the magazines for the guns. Russian authorities believe that there is a “Columbine” “terrorist movement” in Russia, whose members “deny generally accepted moral principles and moral values, promote deviant behavior, suicide, and violence as a norm of life and a way to achieve their goals.”

This is the second shooting incident this morning in Russia. Shortly before the news of what happened in Izhevsk, it became known that in Ust-Ilimsk, Irkutsk region, a man opened fire at the military registration and enlistment office, seriously injuring the office’s head.