A gunman in the Russian city of Kazan opened fire at a school early Tuesday, killing at least seven students and a teacher and injuring 21 others, Russian officials said.
According to npr news, the governor of Tatarstan, an oil-rich, Muslim-majority region where Kazan is the capital, said those killed in the attack were eighth-grade students at Kazan’s School No. 175.
“We have lost seven children … four boys and three girls,” Rustam Minnikhanov told state TV, according to Reuters.
He said a 19-year-old “terrorist” who was “officially registered as a gun owner” had been arrested in the attack, according to Reuters. Minnikhanov said it wasn’t clear yet whether the gunman had accomplices or acted alone.
The gunman was identified by Russian media, who said he was a former student and had announced his intention to carry out the attack on social media.
Earlier, state news agency RIA Novosti reported 11 dead and said at least two students died when they jumped from a third-floor window in an apparent attempt to escape the gunman.
Kazan is located about 450 miles east of Moscow. Officials there said 21 people were hospitalized with wounds after the attack, including 18 children — six of them in intensive care — and three adults.
Police said they had opened an investigation into the attack.
While school shootings in Russia are relatively rare, there have been several in recent years – mostly carried out by students. In 2018, a student at a school in Russian-annexed Crimea killed 19 people before taking his own life.
President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to the relatives of the victims and ordered his government to tighten the country’s already strict gun laws even more.