Skip to main content

Eight Killed As 18-year-old Gunman Opens Fire On Russian University Students, Others

September 20, 2021

The incident occurred on Monday.

At least eight people were killed and others injured after a gunman opened fire at a university in the Russian city of Perm, officials said.

The incident occurred on Monday.

The shooter, said to be a student, 18, walked on to the campus on Monday morning and started shooting.

Image

Students and teachers hid inside the university building, barricading themselves, while some others were seen jumping from windows.

 

The Perm State University press service said the perpetrator used a so-called “traumatic” firearm; such guns are designed to fire non-lethal rubber or plastic projectiles, but can be modified to fire other ammunition.

 

Russia’s Investigative Committee opened a murder probe in the aftermath of the incident.

The Interior Ministry said the gunman had been detained but a spokesperson for the university said he had been killed.

 

The regional health ministry said people sustained injuries from the shooting and while trying to escape the building.

 

One of the university’s professors, Ivan Pechishchev, told the BBC he saw students running from a building, and people jumping out of the second floor windows as he went to class.

 

“They jumped out in some horror, screaming,” he said. “One of the students told me that it was a shooting. I heard pops, everyone began to scatter in different directions.”

 

Perm is about 700 miles east of Moscow, with a population of about 1 million. The university has about 12,000 students.

 

In May, a gunman opened fire at a school in the city of Kazan, killing seven students and two teachers.

 

Topics
International