Law student armed with shotgun kills 6 on Russian campus, 19 hurt

Law student armed with shotgun kills 6 on Russian campus, 19 hurt

It Is Second School Shooting This year

Moscow:21.09.2021

An 18-year-old law student wielding a pump-action shotgun went on a shooting spree on a Russian university campus on Monday, killing at least six people and wounding 19, according to state media, government officials and a university spokeswoman.

Students described scenes of chaos, saying they barricaded themselves in classrooms and waited in terror while hearing shots and screams in their building, Russian media reported. Others escaped by jumping from second-story windows and running away. Police published a video showing hallways and a stairway covered in broken glass, spent shotgun shells and blood. The gunman resisted arrest but was later wounded and taken into custody, law enforcement officials told local media. Ivan Pechishchev, a lecturer at the university, said that when he saw students jumping out of windows he thought there had been a fire. Pechishchev said he hid with students in an auditorium for more than an hour before they were told they could leave the building. “The city is shocked. I walked home because it was impossible to get a taxi,” he said.

RIA Novosti, a state news agency, posted videos showing a slender man dressed in black clothing, a black helmet and carrying a gun. He was identified as a student at Perm State University, where the shooting took place, about 1,046 km east of Moscow. The man had obtained the shotgun legally in May, the Investigative Committee law enforcement agency said, according to state media reports. A traffic police unit was the first to reach the scene, and the suspect opened fire on them, according to the interior ministry. He was wounded when police returned fire and then was disarmed, the ministry said. The gunman also was armed with a knife, it said. A member of parliament, Alexander Khinshtein, identified the gunman as an 18-year-old student in the university’s law faculty. The university said about 3,000 people were on the campus at the time of the shooting.

A lengthy social media post attributed to the gunman went up shortly before the attack on Monday, and local media published it. It was a misanthropic screed stretching to several pages, suggesting a lifelong fascination with violence. He did not hint at a political motive. Social media company Vkontakte blocked his account on Monday.

While still rare, school shootings have become more common in Russia in recent years. This was the second mass shooting at a Russian school this year. In May, an attacker killed seven students and two school employees in the Russian city of Kazan. That was Russia’s deadliest school shooting since 2018, when a student at a college in Russian-annexed Crimea killed 20 people before turning his gun on himself. Russia raised the minimum age for buying firearms from18 to 21 after the Kazan shooting, but the new law has yet to come into force. AGENCIES

Shocked students speak on their phones near the university in Perm on Monday. Russia has strict restrictions on civilian firearm ownership, but some categories of guns are available for purchase for hunting, self-defence or sport to those who meet specific requirements

All Indian students safe, says embassy

All Indian students studying at Russia’s Perm medical university are safe, the Indian embassy in Moscow said on Monday. “Shocked at horrific attack at Perm State University in Russia; our deep condolences for the loss of life and best wishes for early recovery of those injured,” the Indian embassy tweeted. “Embassy is in touch with local authorities and representatives of Indian students. All Indian students at Perm State Medical University are safe,” it said. PTI