MOSCOW –
More than a dozen people injured in a school shooting in central Russia will be taken to Moscow for further treatment, authorities said on Tuesday, a day after a gunman gun killed 17 people and wounded 24 others.
Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said medical evacuation plans for 15 injured people, including 13 children and two adults. He said three of them were in critical condition.
Monday’s shooting took place at School 88 in Izhevsk, a city 960 kilometers (600 miles) east of Moscow in the Udmurtia region, and is one of the deadliest school shootings in Russia. The gunman, a 34-year-old graduate of the school, committed suicide after the shooting.
School shootings are uncommon in Russia, but have become more frequent in recent years.
A gunman killed six people in a university in Perm a year ago. Just a few months earlier, a gunman opened fire at a school in the city of Kazan, killing seven students and two teachers with a registered weapon. A student at a college in the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula killed 20 students and himself in 2018.
Russian authorities last year sought to tighten gun regulations in the wake of the shootings.
Russia’s Investigative Committee identified the Izhevsk shooter as Artyom Kazantsev and said he was wearing a black T-shirt with “Nazi symbols”. No details of his motives have been released and an investigation is underway. But local officials said he was registered as a patient at a psychiatric facility.
Udmurtia authorities said 17 people, including 11 children, were killed in the shooting. Alexander Brechalov, the regional head, said in a statement on Tuesday that the victims included primary and secondary school students, as well as teachers, security guards and another school employee.
According to Russia’s Investigative Committee, 24 other people, including 22 children, were injured in the attack. Brechalov on Tuesday said eight of the children were in stable condition and would remain in local hospitals in Udmurtia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the shooting as “an act of terrorism” and said President Vladimir Putin had given all necessary orders to the relevant authorities.
The school educates children from grade 1 to grade 11.
The Russian National Guard said Kazantsev used two non-lethal pistols modified to fire live ammunition. The guns are not registered with the authorities.
Izhevsk, a city of 640,000 people, is located west of the Ural Mountains in central Russia.
