At least 17 people were killed and dozens injured at a college in the Black Sea region of Crimea on Wednesday when a student went through the building shooting at fellow pupils before killing himself, Russian law enforcement officials said.
Vladislav Roslyakov, 18, turned up at the college in the city of Kerch on Wednesday afternoon, carrying a firearm, and then began shooting, investigators said. His body was later found in the college with what they said were self-inflicted gunshot wounds. There were no immediate clues as to his motive in mounting such an attack. 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.
Shrapnel, bullet wounds
Many of the victims from Wednesday’s attack were teenage students who suffered shrapnel and bullet wounds.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a meeting in the southern Russian resort of Sochi with his Egyptian counterpart, declared a moment’s silence for the victims. “This is a clearly a crime,” he said. “The motives will be carefully investigated.”
Soon after the attack, Russian officials said they were investigating the possibility that it was terrorism.
However, the Investigative Committee, the state body that investigates major crimes, said later that it was re-classifying the case from terrorism to mass murder.
