At least 13 people were killed and 23 more wounded Monday when a gunman opened fire inside a school in the Russian city of Izhevsk, about 600 miles east of Moscow, according to Russian law enforcement.
The gunman entered School No. 88, which teaches children from elementary age up to high school, armed with two “traumatic” pistols — non-lethal firearms often used by law enforcement — which had been converted to fire live ammunition. The weapons were obtained illegally, according to the regional office of the National Guard.
Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency cited law enforcement sources as saying the shooter had killed himself at the school, “according to preliminary information.”
Russia’s Investigative Committee identified the gunman as Artem Kazantsev, born in 1988, a native of Izhevsk, and a graduate of the school. The committee said he wore a black t-shirt with “Nazi symbols.”
According to the Investigative Committee, the attacker “was wearing a black top with Nazi symbols and a balaclava.” Video released by the committee showed a red swastika on the gunman’s shirt or jacket.
He was later identified as a local resident in his early thirties who was a graduate of the school.
“Currently the investigators are conducting a search of his residence and studying the personality of the attacker as well as his views and surrounding milieu,” the committee said in a statement. “Checks are being made into his adherence to neo-fascist views and Nazi ideology.”
The committee said the victims included children as well as six adults, teachers and security guards at the school. A short video released by police showed the gunman’s body, dressed in back, on the bloodstained floor of a classroom.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin “deeply mourns” the deaths and had ordered “doctors, psychologists, neurosurgeons and other specialists” to be sent to the scene.
Peskov told reporters on a conference call that the attack was likely committed “by a person who most likely belongs to a neo-Nazi organization or group.”
The regional governor, Aleksander Brechalov, declared three days of mourning.
(With inputs from agencies)
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