Artyom Kazantsev has been identified as the gunman who opened fire in a school in Izhevsk, a city in central Russia. He killed at least 13 people and injured 21. 

“Currently, the investigators of the Russian investigative committee are conducting a search at his place of residence, the identity of the attacker, his views and surroundings are being investigated”, Russia’s Investigative Committee said. 

Who is Artyom Kazantsev?

The 34-year-old is a resident of Izhevsk and studied in the same school he shot up. BBC reported a local MP saying he had been armed with two pistols. 

The gunman, born in 1988, killed himself at the scene, and a video posted by the Investigative Committee showed him dead on the floor, wearing a tee shirt with a Nazi symbol. He also had a balaclava. 

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“His loyalty to neo-fascist views and nazi ideology is being tested”, the Investigative Committee noted. 

As per unverified reports, Kazantsev lived in a nine-storeyed building and police are present at the scene with authorities cordoning off the main entrance.

The shooting left seven children and six adults dead, including two security guards and two teachers, Russian officials noted. Staff and pupils were evacuated from the buildings and there’s footage showing people leaving. 

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The head of the region announced a mourning period until September 29, while a spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin said he is “deeply mourning” the attack. 

Russian Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov went to Izhevsk after the gunman, dressed in black, opened fire on school no. 88. He entered one of the classrooms and started shooting. 

An unnamed girl present during the shooting said, “We are in biology class. We moved from the classroom to the lab. The whole class sits and cries. They don’t tell us anything. Very scary”, as reported by the Romanian outlet Fanatik.