At least eight people have been killed in a shooting at a university in the Russian city of Perm. Several people were also said to have been injured, but how many is still unclear. Some reports speak of fourteen injured.
The shooter, a student, has been knocked out. However, he was said to have been injured during his arrest, the Russian investigation service said. Students and teachers locked themselves in classrooms, according to Russian media. Students are also said to have blocked doors to classrooms with chairs to keep the gunman out.
Other video footage shows a man dressed entirely in black walking towards the university building, armed. Calm, as if nothing happened. According to the university, the gunman used a “non-lethal” firearm, which is actually intended to fire rubber or plastic bullets, but such weapons can be converted.
According to the university, the gunman would have been shot dead, but the Russian research service has contradicted that. Instead, he was allegedly arrested and injured.
According to the governor of the region, Dmitry Makhonin, who is on-site, reports of possible accomplices are now being looked into; he told the Russian news agency TASS., One of the attackers has been eliminated we are now checking information about possible accomplices. It is possible that students heard or saw things because of the fear because the shots have stopped.”
The suspect is an 18-year-old university student, authorities said. No statements have been made about his motive. However, local media report that the man posted a photo of himself on social media with a rifle, helmet and ammunition. He implied in the caption that he was not driven by politics or religion but by hatred.
Perm, about 1,300 kilometres east of the capital Moscow, is the second Russian city to be rocked by a school shooting this year. In May, a former student opened fire at his school in the Russian city of Kazan. Seven students and two teachers were killed. That was the deadliest school shooting since 2018 when a student in Russia-annexed Crimea killed 20 people.
Russia has strict gun ownership rules, but civilians can get hold of a firearm. In addition, some firearms are for sale under certain conditions for hunting, self-defence and sport. After the shooting in Kazan, the minimum age for buying firearms was raised by three years to 21, but the law has not yet come into effect.