School Shooting
The 34-year-old gunman reportedly killed himself after the attack in Izhevsk
A gunman killed at least 13 people and injured 20 in a mass shooting at a school in the Russian city of Izhevsk (about 600 miles east of Moscow) on Monday, Sept. 26.
School No. 88 teaches grades one through 11, though there have been conflicting reports so far on the number of children and adults wounded and killed. The New York Times cited federal investigators saying six adults and seven children were killed; The Associated Press noted those numbers as well, but said the governor of Udmurtia, Alexander Brechalov, said nine children were killed and 20 children were wounded.
According to both reports, the gunman killed himself after the attack. The AP said he was identified as 34-year-old Artyom Kazantzev, a previous student at the school and reportedly a patient at a psychiatric facility. Russia’s Investigative Committee said Kaznatzev was wearing a black t-shirt with “Nazi symbols.” No details about a possible motive have been released.
A spokesperson for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, called the shooting “a terrorist act.” He continued, “President Putin deeply mourns the deaths of people, children at a school where there was a terrorist attack by a person, who apparently belongs to a neo-fascist group. The president wishes for the recovery of those injured as a result of this inhuman terrorist attack.”
As The Times notes, there have been at least 13 mass shootings in Russia over the past three years. Back in May 2021, seven students and two employees were killed at a school in Kazan.