MOSCOW, Sept. 26 (XINHUA/TASS) — At least nine people were dead, including five children, after a gunman opened fire in a school in the central Russian city of Izhevsk, investigators said Monday.
“Nine people were killed because of this crime, including two security guards of the educational institution and two teachers, as well as five minors,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement on Telegram.
It added that the attacker “committed suicide”.
The Udmurtia branch of the interior ministry said the gunman had killed himself and that 20 people were wounded.
News agency RIA cited governor Alexander Brechalov of the Udmurtia region, of which Izhevsk is the capital, as saying that an unidentified man had entered the school and killed a security guard.
He said that there were dead and wounded among the school students.
Victims include five children at the school of about 1,000 pupils in the city of Izhevsk.
The gunman has reportedly killed himself and the motive is unclear. Emergency officials are at the scene.
Russian media have put videos online which appear to show scenes of panic inside the building where the shooting took place.
Some footage shows blood on a classroom floor and a bullet hole in a window, with children crouching down underneath desks.
Two teachers and two security guards are among the dead, according to Russian officials. Staff and pupils have been evacuated from the school buildings.
One local MP said the attacker had been armed with two pistols. State news agency Tass quoted investigators as saying the gunman wore a T-shirt with a Nazi symbol and a balaclava.
The school is in the centre of Izhevsk, a city of about 650,000 residents, close to central government buildings. — NNN-XINHUA/TASS
