Student Kills 19 People And Dozens More Injured In College Massacre

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At least 19 people have been killed and dozens injured at a college in the Black Sea region of Crimea when a student went through the building shooting at fellow pupils before killing himself, Russian law enforcement officials said.

Eighteen-year-old Vladislav Roslyakov turned up at the college in the city of Kerch on Wednesday afternoon carrying a firearm and then began shooting, investigators said.

His body was later found in the college with what they said were self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

There were no immediate clues as to his motive in mounting such an attack, which recalled similar shooting sprees carried out by students in US schools.

Russian officials at first reported a gas explosion, then said an explosive device ripped through the college canteen at lunchtime and that a second device had been found among Roslyakov's belongings and defused.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, prompting international condemnation and Western sanctions, but since then there have been no major outbreaks of violence there.

Many of the victims from Wednesday's attacks were teenage students who suffered shrapnel and bullet wounds.

Pupils and staff described scenes of mayhem as panicked pupils tried to flee the building. They said the attack had started with an explosion, followed by more blasts, and a hail of gunfire.

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a moment's silence for the victims.

"This is a clearly a crime," he said. "The motives will be carefully investigated."

Olga Grebennikova, the college's director, told Crimean media outlets that the bodies of children were everywhere.

Troops with armoured personnel carriers were sent to the scene. Local parents were told to collect their children from the city's schools and kindergartens for their safety.

The Investigative Committee, the state body that investigates major crimes, said that it had re-classified the case from terrorism to mass murder.

One 15-year-old pupil, who gave his name as Sergei, said he had taken a few steps out of the building into the street when the first blast went off. He was hit by debris from the blast and injured in the leg.

Sergei told Reuters he ran to another building, but said he could hear more explosions going off every few seconds. He took cover and after the attack was over, he was taken to hospital in an ambulance.

"I arrived at the hospital, the scene there was awful. They're bringing in people all covered in blood, some with arms missing, some with legs missing."

An employee at Kerch's hospital said dozens of people were being treated for their injuries in the emergency room and in the operating theatre.

Photographs from the scene of the blast showed that the ground floor windows of the two-storey building had been blown out, and that debris was lying on the floor outside.

Emergency services teams have been carrying wounded people from the building on makeshift stretchers and loading them on to buses and ambulances.

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17 October 2018




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