A school shooting in Russia’s Izhevsk, a city in the Udmurt Republic, has left at least 15 people dead and 24 others injured

“At the moment, investigators have established that 39 people were injured as a result of the crime”, the Investigative Committee’s statement reads. 

“Fifteen of them died, including 11 children and 4 adults. 24 victims were injured, including 22 children and 2 adults”, the statement adds. The gunman, identified as 34-year-old Artem Kazantsev, a former student of the school, committed suicide at the scene. A spate of school shootings has prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to take a stronger stance on gun control, and his spokesperson conveyed that the head of state was in “deep mourning” over the incident. 

Here is a look at Russia’s deadliest school shootings. 

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Veshkayma kindergarten shooting

The incident took place in Russia’s Ulyanovsk Oblast on April 26, 2022, when three people were killed. Ruslan Akhtyamov, 26, entered the school with a shotgun and first killed the person trying to stop him. Then, he entered one of the classrooms in Ryabinka kindergarten, during the children’s naptime and opened fire, killing two kids. The shooter wounded another staff member before turning the gun on himself. 

Kazan school shooting

This incident took place in May last year, in Tatarstan, the western part of Russia. Ilnaz Galyaviev, a nineteen-year-old, former student was identified as the shooter. Apart from opening fire, a bomb was also set off, taking the total death count to nine and injuring 23. Seven students and two teachers died, and another student of the school committed suicide in the aftermath of the incident. 

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Moscow school shooting

A 2014 incident in the Otradnoye District, Moscow, became Russia’s first reported school shooting in the nation’s modern history. A 15-year-old high school student, Sergey Gordeyev, opened fire killing a teacher. The gunman took 29 students hostage and killed a police officer, injuring another. He later surrendered to authorities.