Shooting in Crimea; a teenager kills 17 college students

As a result of a shooting by a student at a college in Crimea, at least 17 people have been killed and dozens injured. The assailant, an 18-year-old student named Vladislav Roslyakov, committed suicide after the shooting. According to Russian law enforcement officials, on Wednesday, October 17, he arrived at the college in Kerch with a firearm and opened fire on students. His body was found on the second floor of the building, and it appears he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. However, the motive for this attack, which bears a strong resemblance to school shootings in the United States, has not yet been determined. Russia annexed Crimea, which was part of Ukraine, in 2014, but since then, there had been no significant violent incidents in the area. Most of the victims and injured in this attack are teenagers. Students and teachers at the college reported that during the shooting, everyone frantically tried to escape the building. They stated that the attack began with an explosion, followed by a barrage of gunfire after several more explosions. Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, observed a minute of silence in honor of the victims during a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart in Sochi, stating, 'The motives behind this attack will be thoroughly investigated. This is a blatant crime.' The college principal described the scene upon entering the building after the attack: 'Everywhere was filled with the bodies of students. This attack was truly a terrorist act. He exploded everything in the hall. The area was filled with broken glass. Then he went to the second floor with a weapon, opened the office door, and shot anyone he found.' After the incident, Russian officials stated they would investigate the possibility of the attack being terrorist-related. Military forces were dispatched to the scene with armored vehicles, and residents were advised to pick up their children from schools and kindergartens. However, the Russian Federal Investigative Committee, responsible for investigating serious crimes, later announced that it considered the attack not a terrorist act but a mass shooting. Initially, the number of fatalities was reported as 18, but the investigative committee later stated that 17 people had been killed. Images released from the attack show that all the windows on the first floor of the two-story building were blown out, with shattered glass and debris from the explosion scattered on the ground. Rescue workers were evacuating victims and the injured from the building and transporting them from the scene by ambulance and bus. A 15-year-old student named Sergey said he was exiting the building when the first explosion occurred but was injured by debris from the explosion. He added that after the first explosion, he heard subsequent explosions every few seconds. He, who was transferred to the hospital, stated, 'The situation in the hospital was horrific. More and more injured people, whose bodies were drenched in blood, were being brought to the hospital every moment. Some had lost their hands, and others their legs.'