Shocked and grieving Russians gathered outside a university in the city of Perm on Tuesday after a student went on a campus shooting spree, killing six people and wounding dozens, reported AFP. With a heavy police cordon still around Perm State University a day after the killings, they laid red carnations and lit candles at makeshift memorials.
Ksenia Punina, a professor of international relations at the university, told AFP she was in shock and in pain at the beginning of an official day of mourning over the attack. “Our university is our home,” said the 40-year-old, wearing a black mask bearing the university’s name. “It’s completely unexpected; a total shock when a man comes into your house with a weapon to your family.” The shocking incident happened on Monday morning when a university student wearing black tactical gear and a helmet roamed through the densely populated campus wielding a hunting rifle and shooting down people in his path. He was eventually confronted by police and wounded while being detained, then hospitalised. There has been no indication yet of any motive for the attack. The rampage caused chaos on the campus, with footage on social media showing dozens of students leaping through windows to evade the attacker. President Vladimir Putin described the incident, which claimed the lives of one man and five women aged between 18 and 66, as a “great loss” for the entire country. On Tuesday morning, police had closed off the university’s mainly Soviet-era buildings except to senior staff. The attack in Perm, some 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) from Moscow, was the second mass shooting to target students in Russia this year, and came with growing attention on gun control laws.
