Crimean city in mourning
Kerch mourns the deadliest school shooting in Russia after teenager kills 20, including himself.
MOSCOW — While Crimean authorities searched for clues that might help explain why a teenager gunned down 20 people at his vocational school before killing himself, the stunned city of Kerch prepared to say farewell to the victims.
Thousands of residents were expected to attend the funerals of most of the victims Friday. The burials are taking place in mainland Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
The death toll climbed Thursday to 20 after one of the wounded died in a hospital, according to Russian news agency Tass.
Little information has emerged about the gunman, Vladislav Roslyakov. Authorities said they were investigating if he had an accomplice in Wednesday’s shotgun massacre at Kerch Polytechnic College.
Teachers and classmates have described Roslyakov, 18, as a shy person with few friends. A computer taken from the home where Roslyakov lived with his parents revealed little, a Crimean official said Thursday.
“When they did a search and saw the computer, all information, messages and such had been deleted,” Crimean human rights ombudswoman Lyudmila Lubina was quoted as saying by Russian news agency Tass.
Roslyakov was initially described as the only person involved in the carnage at the school. But Sergei Aksyonov, the Kremlin-appointed head of Crimea, told Russian news agencies Thursday that it’s still possible the student had help.
Residents brought flowers and toys to a makeshift memorial outside the school Thursday. Many were in tears.
The Kerch attack was the deadliest carried out by a student in Russia, raising questions about school security. The vocational school had a front desk, but no security guards. Russia’s National Guard said Thursday that it has deployed officers and riot police to all schools and colleges in Kerch.
Wednesday’s violence also was the deadliest school attack in Russia since the 2004 Beslan attack by Chechen separatists, which left 333 people dead, many of them children, during a three-day siege. Hundreds of others were wounded.
President Vladimir Putin portrayed the mass shooting in Kerch as a “result of globalization” — forces that were exporting bad practices into Russia.
Speaking at an international policy conference, Putin compared Roslyakov’s assault to the numerous school shootings in the United States. In the past few years, authorities have said several school attacks in Russia allegedly were inspired by gun violence in the U.S.
Putin said that in his view, teenagers getting guns and going on shooting rampages meant adults had failed to offer them alternatives to violence.
“Young people with a fragile mental state are creating false heroes for themselves,” he said. “That means that all of us, not only in Russia, but in the world on the whole, are reacting poorly to the fastchanging realities.”
Russia has fairly strict gun legislation. Civilians can own only hunting rifles and smoothbore shotguns and must undergo background checks. Roslyakov had only recently received a permit to own a shotgun and had bought 150 cartridges a few days ago, local officials said.