At a school in the city of Bryansk in Russia, a girl who was 14 years old shot and killed a fellow student, caused injuries to five other students, and then took her own life, according to the authorities.
On Thursday, December 7, officials said that they were trying to determine the student's motivation for the attack and how she obtained the pump-action shotgun that she used to shoot her classmates.
Law enforcement officers stand guard outside Gymnasium Number Five following a shooting, in Bryansk on December 7, 2023. A Russian 14-year-old girl shot dead a classmate and injured five people before killing herself in a secondary school in the city of Bryansk near the Ukraine border on Thursday.
'Terrible Tragedy'
In a statement from Russia's Investigative Committee, preliminary investigation data indicates that "a 14-year-old girl brought a pump-action shotgun to school, from which she fired shots at her classmates," as reported by Al Jazeera.
The committee said that two individuals were murdered in the event, including the shooter. Also, five children were wounded. They have all been transported to a medical institution.
Officials have not yet identified the assailant, but they have confirmed that the victim was a female student at the secondary school Gymnasium Number Five in a suburb of Bryansk.
The pupil was able to procure and carry a firearm to school, and according to Alexander Bogomaz, governor of the region, the circumstances under which this occurred are being investigated by law authorities.
Along with the investigation into the shooting's motivation, the attacker's father was reportedly also being interrogated, as reported by Russian media.
Bogomaz called the occurrence a "terrible tragedy," according to Al Jazeera. The area is one of several in the south that have seen cross-border assaults due to the conflict with Ukraine. On rare occasions, shelling and drone strikes have struck Bryansk City.
Due to the country's stringent regulations on civilian gun ownership, mass shootings at Russian schools and universities are rare and recent.
Some types of firearms, however, may be purchased by individuals for hunting, self-defense, or recreational purposes, subject to certain conditions and testing.
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School Shootings in Russia
In 2022, a school in Izhevsk City, which is located 960km (600 miles) east of Moscow, was targeted by a shooter who was 34 years old. On that devastating day, at least 17 people--including 11 children--were slain.
Following the tragic school shooting in Kazan in 2021 that claimed the lives of seven students and two educators, President Vladimir Putin enacted stricter gun control measures. In the aftermath of the massacre in Kazan, Russia increased the minimum age to purchase weapons from 18 to 21.
In 2018, in the town of Kerch in seized Crimea, an 18-year-old college student committed Russia's bloodiest school shooting. He murdered 20 people, including himself, and injured 67 more.
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