‘Revenge may have been on Moscow shooter’s mind’
6 Feb 2014 3:47 AM IST
The suspect was disarmed and detained about an hour after the shootings after talking to his father, the owner of the two rifles with which he forced his way into the school in northern Moscow at midday.
The incident rattled nerves in a country on high alert for Islamist militant violence as athletes and spectators arrive for the Sochi Games, a prestige project that will help shape President Vladimir Putin’s legacy.
Putin, who says young Russians are suffering from a moral vacuum left by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, said the attack might have been avoided with better cultural education.
It is almost unheard-of for a student to attack a school in Russia. A horrific assault in 2004 on a school in Beslan in the North Caucasus, in which more than 330 people were killed, was the work of Islamist separatists.
Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said the Moscow student may have suffered an ‘emotional breakdown’.
The attacker knocked on the door of the 10th grade class about five minutes after the start of a lesson, his classmate Ivan Chekanov, one of the students who was held hostage, said later on Monday.
‘We were glad to see him at first - but then he shot the geology teacher,’ Chekanov, 16, said. ‘He fired the shot, then he got up onto the podium, laid out his rifles and said he had 100 bullets and that he had come to die.’
‘Andrei Nikolayevich (the teacher) was dripping with blood, he had fallen but he was still alive,’ he said. (The attacker) asked us: ‘Why is he still alive? I killed him.’ Everyone was silent.’
‘He said, ‘Well, guys, your answer gets a ‘D’, and fired several more shots,’ Chekanov said by telephone.
The shooting sent dozens of other students scurrying into the street in sub-zero temperatures while a police helicopter landed in a snow-covered field outside and at least six ambulances rolled up to the scene.
Officials said the assailant had also shot a policeman responding to the incident, who died in hospital, and that another policeman had been wounded.
GUN COCKED
The incident began around noon when the attacker cocked a gun at a guard who tried to stop him entering the school, the federal Investigative Committee said.
It said the guard had managed to press an alarm button, bringing police to the school. ‘When the police entered, the shooter opened fire at them, wounding one and killing another.’
Markin said the assailant fired at least 11 shots.
His father was brought in and spent 15 minutes talking to his son by phone before being given a bulletproof vest and going into the classroom. His son began releasing students 30 minutes later, Moscow police chief Anatoly Yakunin said.
The incident rattled nerves in a country on high alert for Islamist militant violence as athletes and spectators arrive for the Sochi Games, a prestige project that will help shape President Vladimir Putin’s legacy.
Putin, who says young Russians are suffering from a moral vacuum left by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, said the attack might have been avoided with better cultural education.
It is almost unheard-of for a student to attack a school in Russia. A horrific assault in 2004 on a school in Beslan in the North Caucasus, in which more than 330 people were killed, was the work of Islamist separatists.
Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said the Moscow student may have suffered an ‘emotional breakdown’.
The attacker knocked on the door of the 10th grade class about five minutes after the start of a lesson, his classmate Ivan Chekanov, one of the students who was held hostage, said later on Monday.
‘We were glad to see him at first - but then he shot the geology teacher,’ Chekanov, 16, said. ‘He fired the shot, then he got up onto the podium, laid out his rifles and said he had 100 bullets and that he had come to die.’
‘Andrei Nikolayevich (the teacher) was dripping with blood, he had fallen but he was still alive,’ he said. (The attacker) asked us: ‘Why is he still alive? I killed him.’ Everyone was silent.’
‘He said, ‘Well, guys, your answer gets a ‘D’, and fired several more shots,’ Chekanov said by telephone.
The shooting sent dozens of other students scurrying into the street in sub-zero temperatures while a police helicopter landed in a snow-covered field outside and at least six ambulances rolled up to the scene.
Officials said the assailant had also shot a policeman responding to the incident, who died in hospital, and that another policeman had been wounded.
GUN COCKED
The incident began around noon when the attacker cocked a gun at a guard who tried to stop him entering the school, the federal Investigative Committee said.
It said the guard had managed to press an alarm button, bringing police to the school. ‘When the police entered, the shooter opened fire at them, wounding one and killing another.’
Markin said the assailant fired at least 11 shots.
His father was brought in and spent 15 minutes talking to his son by phone before being given a bulletproof vest and going into the classroom. His son began releasing students 30 minutes later, Moscow police chief Anatoly Yakunin said.
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