MOSCOW • At least 17 people were 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.
Eighteen-year-old Vladislav Roslyakov turned up at the college in the city of Kerch yesterday afternoon carrying a firearm and then began shooting, investigators said.
His body was later found in the college with what were said to be self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
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 yesterday'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.
The director of the school, Ms Olga Grebennikova, described the scene that she encountered when she entered the college building after the attack. "There are bodies everywhere, children's bodies everywhere. It was a real act of terrorism," she said.
"They burst in five or 10 minutes after I'd left. They blew up everything in the hall, glass was flying," Ms Grebennikova told Crimean media outlets.
An injured student who gave his name as Sergei, 15, told Reuters he saw some of the victims missing their arms or legs at the hospital.
"This is clearly a crime," Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"The motives will be carefully investigated."
REUTERS
