At least six people were killed and 28 others injured after a gunman opened fire at a university in the Russian city of Perm on Monday, local authorities reported.
The attacker, later identified as a male student at Perm State University, entered the campus and started shooting “with an offensive weapon,” university staff reported via its Telegram channel.
At least 28 people had to receive medical attention after the attack, including some hospitalized with severe injuries, said Russia’s Investigative Committee, a law enforcement agency that has already launched an investigation into the criminal murder case.
Authorities originally stated that eight people had died but subsequently revised the death toll down.
It was also reported that one of the region’s leading doctors was among the shooting’s victims.
According to the state media agency RIA Novosti, some students and teachers locked themselves in classrooms inside the building while others were seen screaming during the attack.
Images captured by local media showed some people throwing their belongings and jumping out of the first-floor window to run to safety.
The event occurred at Perm State University, located about 1,300 kilometers east of the Russian capital Moscow, at 11:00 a.m. local time. Officer Konstanin Kalinin, who quickly responded to the emergency call and was one of the first agents to arrive at the scene, disarmed the attacker, who was carrying a knife and a gun.
Later, Russia’s Investigative Committee revealed that the suspected student had legally purchased a hunting rifle in May this year.
Authorities confirmed that the assailant had been shot when confronting a police officer and received first aid when arrested. The man was taken to a hospital to treat the injuries he suffered while resisting security forces.
The suspect’s name or motive behind the attack has not been revealed. However, he reportedly acted alone and claimed that his actions were not driven by religious or political motives.
In a social media post shared on a now-deleted account attributed to him, the attacker wrote: “I’ve thought about this for a long time, it’s been years and I realized the time had come to do what I dream of.”
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin issued a statement, calling the deadly shooting “a great loss not only for the families who lost their children but for the whole country.”
It was not the first shooting reported in Russia this year. In May, a 19-year-old gunman killed seven children and two adults after opening fire in his old school in the central Russian city of Kazan.
