At least 17 killed in Russian school shooting

Eleven children were among the dead after a man opened fire in Izhevsk.

September 26, 2022, 3:45 PM

At least 17 people, including 11 children, were killed after a man opened fire at a school in central Russia on Monday, officials said.

Local authorities said at least 24 more people were injured, some severely, in the attack in the school in the city of Izhevsk about 600 miles from Moscow, making it one of the deadliest school shootings Russia has suffered. Twenty-two children were among the two dozen injured in the shooting.

Two teachers and two security guards were among the dead, according to the region's governor.

Police said the alleged shooter killed himself at the school following the attack. They identified him as a 34-year-old former student at the school. Russia's Investigative Committee, which handles serious crimes, identified him as Artyem Kazantsev, and posted a video it said showed his body lying in a pool of blood in a classroom.

Police and paramedics work at the scene of a shooting at school No. 88 in Izhevsk, Russia, on Sept. 26, 2022.
AP

The motive for the attack was still unclear but the committee said it was investigating possible "neofascist views" held by the shooter, who in the video it released appeared to be wearing a T-shirt with a red swastika.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman called the shooting a "terrorist act."

"President Putin grieves in connection with the deaths of people and children in the school, where the terrorist act occurred. It was carried out by an individual who, judging by everything, belongs to a neofascist organisation or group," Dmitry Peskov, Putin's press secretary told reporters.

Police officers secure the area near a school after a gunman opened fire there, in Izhevsk, Russia Sept. 26, 2022.
Stringer/Reuters

The shooting began mid-morning, while children were in class. Video circulating in Russian media showed pupils cowering under desks and with blood stains visible on the floor. Police sealed off the school and emergency services could be seen carrying stretchers with the wounded from the building.

The shooter was armed with two pistols, according to Alexander Khinstein, the chairman of Russia's parliamentary committee for information policy, technology and communications.

A woman hugs a boy surrounded by other people near the scene of a shooting at a school in Izhevsk, Russia, Sept. 26, 2022.
Maria Baklanova/Kommersant via AFP/Getty Images

School shootings have been relatively rare in Russia, but in recent years they have become increasingly frequent.

PHOTO: People gather to lay flowers, put toys and light candles in memory of victims of the shooting at school No. 88 in Izhevsk, Russia, Sept. 26, 2022.
People gather to lay flowers, put toys and light candles in memory of victims of the shooting at school No. 88 in Izhevsk, Russia, Sept. 26, 2022. Authorities say a gunman has killed 15 people and wounded others in a school in central Russia.
Sergei Kuznetsov/AP

In May 2021, a teenager killed seven children and two adults after attacking a school in Kazan, and in April this year a man shot two children and a teacher dead at a kindergarten in the Ulyanovsk region. An 18-year-old student killed 21 people and wounded dozens more after setting off a bomb in a polytechnic college in Kerch in occupied Crimea in 2018.

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