Yesterday, a 19-year-old gunman opened fire on School No. 175 in the city of Kazan in Russia. Kazan is the capital of the Russian state of the Republic of Tatarstan. As with most school shootings, many details of the tragedy reported by news outlets are conflicting. This is made even more difficult considering Russia’s misuse of the media, but I’ll try to narrow everything down as much as I can.
The gunman is said to be 19-year-old Ilnaz Galyaviyev, a former student of the school. Eight students and one teacher were said to have died at the scene. They were eighth-grade students according to most reports. There is some confusion as to how all eight students died as some reports have stated that a few students died leaping from the fourth floor of the building in an attempt to escape the violence.
Galyaviyev was said to have legally purchased the gun he used in the shooting. School shootings are not unheard of in Russia, although they’re nowhere near as frequent as they are in the US. Here are just a few that I’ve posted about before.
Initial reports said that there was a second shooter who was either killed by police or killed himself. Russian authorities have walked back on that report stating that Galyaviyev was the lone shooter and is in custody. Multiple gunmen at a school shooting are actually quite rare with that happening only three times in the US. However, reports of second shooters are quite common. This is usually the results of witnesses giving conflicting descriptions of the same shooter. You can read more about that here.
To my knowledge, no motive for the shooting has been made public, however, if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say it was yet another Columbine copycat. Galyaviyev is said to have allegedly detonated an explosive device at the school prior to the shooting which was the original plan of the Columbine shooters. While in custody Galyaviyev reportedly told police…
“I realised I was God about two months ago,” he says in the video. “In the summer, a monster began to awaken in me. I’ve always hated everyone.”
How very Eric Harris-like.
This is where I tend to point out that Galyaviyev wasn’t even born when Columbine happened.
I’ll post more if more details become available.
- (Sources)
- 9 Dead in Russia School Shooting
- Nine confirmed dead in bloody attack at high school in Russian city of Kazan, 19-year-old lone shooter captured alive by police
- Russia school shooting: At least eight killed in Kazan attack
UPDATE 7/21/2021: Galyaviyev has been determined to have been insane at the time of the shooting. I’m not positive, but this sounds a lot like a ploy by Russian authorities to keep him imprisoned for an undetermined amount of time without a trial.
Real Crime with Trench Reynolds 