A student killed eight people in a shootout on Monday at the Perm University (Urals), in eastern Russia, before being injured and arrested, the country’s Investigative Committee said. Armed incidents of this type have increased in Russia in recent years, leading to tougher laws on carrying weapons.
“On September 20, a student in one of the university buildings (…) opened fire on people around. As a result, eight people died and several were injured, ”the body responsible for the most important investigations in the country said in a statement. He added that the balance sheet “was being clarified”.
Videos of students on the run
The individual suspected of having opened fire was “injured during his arrest as he offered resistance,” added the Investigation Committee, which did not immediately give information on the suspect’s motive. Fleeing the shooting, students jumped from the windows of the first floor of a university building, according to videos posted on social media.
Another video, shot from a window, showed an individual dressed entirely in black opening fire and walking towards the entrance of a building. The suspect, whose identity has been established but not disclosed, allegedly entered the campus at eleven a.m. local (6 a.m. GMT), according to the university’s press service.
More and more frequent incidents
Shootings in schools or universities were rare in Russia, where gun control is strict, but they have tended to become more numerous in recent years, with President Vladimir Putin even denouncing a phenomenon imported from the United States, a perverse effect. of globalization.
Last such deadly event, on May 11, 2021, a 19-year-old young man opened fire at his old school in Kazan, in the Russian republic of Tatarstan, killing nine people. The same day, the Russian president ordered a review of the rules on carrying weapons. The perpetrator of the attack in Kazan, who had been arrested, carried a permit for a semi-automatic weapon.
Dozens of murderous projects foiled
The most serious recent drama dates back to October 2018, when a high school student killed 19 people before killing himself in a high school in Kerch, a town on the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014. The authorities also have claimed to have foiled in recent years dozens of plans to attack schools, cases often involving teenagers.
In February 2020, the security services (FSB) arrested two young people, born in 2005 and of Russian nationality, who were active on various websites where they defended murders and suicide. According to investigators, they planned to attack a school in Saratov, on the Volga.