Getty Students lay flowers outside the university campus in Perm on September 21, 2021, one day after a gunman killed six people on a university campus in Russia before being detained.
Timur Bekmansurov was identified as the gunman who opened fire at Perm state university in Siberia, Russia, killing at least six people.
Bekmansurov was an 18-year-old first-year student at the university, according to the BBC. He was studying law, according to ABC News. An additional 24 people were wounded in the shooting, according to the Independent. The Health ministry told the Independent that nine of the injuries were critical.
The BBC identified the deceased as Ksenia Samchenko, 18, Yekaterina Shakirova, 19, Yaroslav Aramelev, 19, Alexandra Mokhova, 20, Anna Aigeldina, 26, and Margarita Engaus, 66.
Perm is located about 800 miles from Moscow in the Urals region.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Bekmansurov Posted on Social Media Shortly Before the Shooting That He Planned it for Years
Bekmansurov wrote a post on social media just hours before the shooting, which seemed to speak of his plans, according to the BBC. He said he was going to carry out a plan he had considered for years and that “the time had come” to do what he had “dreamt of,” the BBC reported.
“I’ve thought about this for a long time, it’s been years and I realised the time had come to do what I dreamt of,” he wrote, according to the BBC.
The BBC reported the original post was taken down, but some social media users shared the content of the post, which was written in Russian.
He targeted Perm state university because it had “committed a serious mistake” four years earlier, the post said, according to the Independent.
2. Bekmansurov Was Wounded in the Shooting & in Critical Condition Tuesday
Bekmansurov was wounded in the shooting and remained in critical condition in the hospital Tuesday, the BBC reported, citing Russian media sources. The news outlet reported that Bekmansurov had a leg amputated. Police told the Independent they had shot and wounded Bekamansurov before detaining him.
His social media post implied that he expected to die, according to the text quoted by the Independent.
“However long I’ve known myself, I’ve always thought of death. I don’t know how many I can kill, but I will do everything to take as many with me as I can,” the post said, according to the Independent.
President Vladimir Putin ordered a ministerial delegation to organize assistance for the families of the victims, the Independent reported.
“It is a tremendous tragedy, not only for the families who lost their children but for the entire country,” Putin said, according to the Independent.
3. Bekmansurov Legally Obtained the Gun That Was Used in the Shooting
GettyA view shows candles, flowers and the list of killed students at a makeshift memorial outside the Perm State National Research University campus, in the city of Perm, around 1,300 kilometres
Bekmansurov also wrote about the process of legally obtaining a gun in his post, according to the Independent, and said he had successfully passed psychiatric tests.
The Russian national guard confirmed to the Independent that he had legally obtained the gun, the article said.
The Independent wrote that because of the country’s strict gun control laws, mass shootings are “relatively rare.” However, they appear to be on the rise, the article said.
In May 2021, a Kazan student killed nine people at his former school, the article said. Three years earlier in Kerch, Crimea, Vladislav Roslyakov, 18, was identified as the gunman who carried out the country’s worst mass shooting since the 2004 terror attack in Beslan. Roslyakov was accused of killing 20 of his fellow students, the article said. In the 2004 terrorist attack, 333 people died, including many children, the Independent reported.
4. Students Recounted the Shooting & Captured Videos Posted to Social Media
Students captured the active shooter scene on cellphones, the Independent reported. The gunman approached the university’s building No. 8, a central hall that houses the geography staff, at about 11:30 a.m., the article said. Video shows students jumping from windows to escape the building.
Lev Zenkov told the Independent he was in a lecture on the building’s fourth floor when the gunman entered. He said it lasted about 20 to 30 minutes, the article said. Kenkov recalled the gunman roaming the first and second floors before going to the chemistry facility next door.
“Everyone is in shock and tears,” Zenkov told the Independent.
He said police arrived within a few minutes, and were accompanied by specialist units shortly after. The rapid response saved many lives, he said.
The Independent reported that Bekmansurov “appears to have fired his way into the campus, killing a security guard before the alarm was raised.”
Semyon Karyakin, a second-year geology student, told ABC News he was in an elevator headed downstairs when he heard gunshots. The elevator opened into the hallway where the gunman entered moments earlier, the article said.
“The doors opened, two girls ran in and behind them were shots,” Karayakin told ABC.
The students went up one floor, but the gunman had already gone up the stairs, Karayakin told ABC.
“We were again lucky because the lift again managed to close and we managed to get out of there. In the other case I wouldn’t be talking with you,” he said, according to ABC.
The group hid in a classroom and barricaded themselves until police arrived, while trying to bring in other students to safety, he told ABC.
5. News Reports Reference Heroes in the Shooting, Including Police Officers & Teachers
GettyA woman lays flowers at a makeshift memorial outside the Perm State National Research University campus, in the city of Perm, around 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) east of Moscow on September 21, 2021, one day after a gunman killed six people there before being detained.
Students and residents in the city of Perm told the BBC their community was “crushed by tragedy.” A makeshift memorial with flowers, photos and toys sprung up around the campus in the hours after the shooting, and a priest arrived to offer support, the BBC reported.
One student recounted to Russia’s Kommersant website that his teacher barred the doors by tying the door handles together just moments before the shooter tried to enter the classroom.
“There was no key and the door was open. She tied the handles with a piece of cable. He tried to force the door. When it wouldn’t open, he shot at the door and then once at the wall and then kept walking along the corridor,” the student said.
Two traffic police officers were being praised for their response, the BBC reported. Vladimir Makarov led students and teachers to safety, the BBC reported, and Konstantin Kalinin confronted the gunman and opened fire after he was shot at, the article said.
“The young man fell down. I ran up to him, restrained him, pushed away his rifle, bullets and knife and then started giving him first aid,” said Jnr Lt Kalinin.
READ NEXT: Stanford Murders Victims: How Were the Women Killed?