Russia school shooting: At least eight killed in Kazan attack

A former pupil attacked the secondary school in Tatarstan, central Russia, early on Tuesday morning

At least eight people have died after a school shooting incident in Kazan, Russia’s fifth-largest city.

Early reports indicated that two gunmen attacked secondary school number 175, on Dzhaudata Faizi Street, early on Tuesday morning.

That information was later contradicted by a spokesperson for local police, who said there was one attacker, acting alone. The attacker was detained in the course of the police operation.

Local media named the gunman as 19-year old Ilnaz Galyaliyev, a former pupil at the school.

A video, leaked on social media, purportedly showing Mr Galyaliyev’s interrogation by police suggests the gunman may have been suffering from a psychiatric disorder.

“I realised I was God about two months ago,” he says in the video. “In the summer, a monster began to awaken in me. I’ve always hated everyone.”

Footage released by state-affiliated media shows how the gunman entered the school by its main entrance, before opening fire from a semi-automatic firearm while still on the street outside.

Distressing videos distributed on social media show schoolchildren jumping from the top floors to the ground below — and then, bloodied, receiving emergency first aid.

A Russian police special unit near the scene at a school after a shooting in Kazan (AP)

The injuries were fatal in at least two cases. Other children were evacuated via ladders provided by fire engines.

The number of those confirmed dead as a result of the attack stands between eight and 13, according to different reports.

Another 21 students have been hospitalised, with at least six in intensive care.

A student who witnessed the attack suggested to the online publication Mediazona that the quick-witted actions of the school director may have averted more catastrophic loss of life.

“Everyone started making a fuss,” the student was reported as saying.

“About a minute later, the director started shouting over the tannoy, ‘Close the doors!’ We closed the doors. Then two minutes later, they said devils had arrived in our school.”

The student, who said he saw the gunman from behind, said his class was later evacuated by police.

Aside from the gunfire, witnesses also reported several explosions.

It is unclear whether these related to the operation to apprehend the gunman.

The Kremlin said the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, had been informed of the incident, and had already ordered a review into public gun ownership.

Some assault firearms were being incorrectly registered as hunting rifles, said spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

Earlier, Rustam Minnikhanov, head of Russia’s Tatarstan republic, of which Kazan is the capital, said the firearms used in the attack had been legally registered.

School shootings are relatively rare in Russia, but authorities have been on guard since a 2018 incident at a polytechnic in Kerch, Crimea.

That shooting left 20 people dead, the greatest number lost to school violence since the 2004 Beslan terror attack in which 333 died.