Russia: at least 6 dead in shooting at Perm University – teller report

The toll is heavy this Monday at the University of Perm. The establishment, located in the Urals region of Russia, was the scene of an armed incident. At least six people were killed, according to investigators, downgrading a previous death toll which reported eight victims.

“On September 20, a student in one of the university buildings (…) opened fire on people around”, The committee of inquiry, the body responsible for the most important affairs of the country, had indicated earlier in a press release. According to the Russian Ministry of Health, quoted by Russian agencies, at least 24 people were injured, including 19 by bullets.

“At around eleven o’clock, a stranger entered the Perm University campus with a gun and opened fire,” had indicated shortly before the university in a press release. The shooter has been arrested, the Russian investigative committee said on Monday.

Fleeing the shooting, students jumped from the windows of the first floor of a university building, according to videos posted on social media. Another video, shot from a window, showed an individual dressed entirely in black opening fire and walking towards the entrance of a building.

This Monday, Vladimir Putin, estimated, in remarks broadcast on television, that the drama constituted “a great misfortune not only for the families who have lost a child, but for the whole country”. He also called on the police to shed light on the shooter’s motivations. “No words can silence the pain of mourning, of these losses, especially when it comes to young people who were just starting their lives”, he continued.

Shootings in schools or universities were rare in Russia, where gun control is strict, but they have tended to become more numerous in recent years, with President Vladimir Putin even denouncing a phenomenon imported from the United States, a perverse effect. of globalization. Last such deadly event: May 11, 2021. A 19-year-old young man opened fire at his old school in Kazan, in the Russian republic of Tatarstan, killing nine people.