The first testimonies tell of the horror of the attack
Dead people on the sidewalk in front of the huge concert hall in northeast Moscow. Dead people in the entrance hall. Dead people in front of the doors, then in the room…
The numerous videos posted on Russian social networks give an idea of the horror of the attack and the route of the attackers, who began shooting to kill as soon as they arrived in Crocus City Hall.
The first testimonies confirm this development. “They started shooting from the street, smashing the windows, a security guard told the media Bazalinked to law enforcement. There were four of us, we hid behind billboards. They passed ten meters from us. » This same media Baza assures that the security agents were armed only with batons and tasers.
The media Mash, also close to the security services, ensures that the metal detectors did not work. At least one video shows four attackers methodically shooting people in the lobby. “They were even shooting people on the ground”said another witness present in the hall. “We were in line with my mother and my sister, in the hall, a witness told the exile media Vajnie Istorii [“Histoires importantes”]. Terrorists were behind us and started shooting people. Then there was shooting inside the room. We started running, the electricity went out…” According to various testimonies, it took around thirty minutes for help to arrive.
The witnesses present inside, and who were waiting for the start of the concert, reported scenes of panic and jostling. “They were dressed in brown, they started shooting people with automatic weaponssaid a witness on Instagram a few minutes after having managed to leave the scene. There was a terrible stampede. Everyone was pushing each other, or lying on the ground… We left with nothing, we didn’t see anyone to help us. »
“Don’t think there wasn’t panicwrites another survivor on her VKontakte page. We were almost crushed against the locker room doors, only one leaf was open. (…) The evacuation was chaotic. »
Another witness who saw the attack from the room’s balcony, photographer Dave Primov, told the BBC’s Russian-language service that the terrorists, “while shooting at the groups of people fleeing”had tried to bring the spectators together towards the center of the room, progressing from the entrance doors. “It was a whole group, the gusts were regular. They did not go up to the balconies, and we were able to escape through the technical rooms, then we had to break down the exit doors, which were blocked. »