MOSCOW (AP) — A gunman opened fire in a school in central Russia on Monday, killing 15 people & wounding 24 others before shooting himself dead.
The shooting took place in School No. 88 in Izhevsk, a city east of Moscow in the Udmurtia region.
Russia’s Investigative Committee identified the gunman as 34-year-old Artyom Kazantsev, a graduate of the same school & said he was wearing a black t-shirt bearing “Nazi symbols.” No details about his motives have been released.
The Committee said 15 people, including 11 children, were killed in the shooting & 24 other people, including 22 children, were wounded.
The governor of Udmurtia, Alexander Brechalov, said the gunman, who he said was registered as a patient at a psychiatric facility, killed himself after the attack.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the shooting as “a terrorist act” & said Russian President Vladimir Putin has given all the necessary orders to the relevant authorities.
“President Putin deeply mourns deaths of people & children in the school, where a terrorist act took place,” Peskov told reporters Monday.
The school educates children between grades one & 11. It has been evacuated & the area around it has been cordoned off.
Russia’s National Guard said Kazantsev used 2 non-lethal handguns adapted to fire real bullets. The guns were not registered with the authorities.
A criminal probe into the incident has been launched on charges of multiple murder & illegal possession of firearms.
Izhevsk, a city of 640,000, is located west of the Ural mountains in central Russia.
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