Police officers and paramedics by school No 175 where two attackers opened fire; at least one teacher and eight students are reported dead.
Yegor Aleyev | TASS | Getty Images
Several children and a teacher are believed to be among the dead following a shooting in a school in Russia on Tuesday.
Russia’s Interior Ministry tweeted a statement in which it said: “This morning Tatarstan police received a message that in School 175 in Kazan the sound of shots were heard. According to preliminary information, there are dead and wounded.”
“Police and other law enforcement officers immediately went to the scene. The attacker was detained by officers of the patrol service. The law enforcement operation is still ongoing at the school. Every effort is being made to ensure the safety of the students. A counter-terror regime has been implemented.”
The shooting took place at the school in Kazan, a city in the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. Media reports conflicted over the exact circumstances around the incident and the number of fatalities and injured.
Earlier reports stated that nine people had been killed in the shooting, mostly children, and then other reports suggested there had been 11 fatalities.
But AP news agency cited the governor of the Tatarstan Republic as saying that four male and three female eighth-grade students had died in the shooting. Twelve more children and four adults were hospitalized in the attack, Governor Rustam Minnikhanov said.
Rustam Minnikhanov, president of the Republic of Tatarstan, arrives at school No 175 where a shooting ha taken place; the number of dead is uncertain.
Yegor Aleyev | TASS | Getty Images
Russian news agencies RIA Novosti and TASS initially reported that there were two attackers; RIA reported that one of the attackers had been detained and the other neutralized.
Subsequent reports suggested there was a lone gunman, however, with Minnikhanov saying that “the terrorist has been arrested, (he is) 19 years old. A firearm is registered in his name.”
“Other accomplices haven’t been established, an investigation is underway.”
The motivation for the attack is still unknown.
