Russians laid flowers and lit candles at a college in the Black Sea region of Crimea where at least 19 people were killed and dozens injured on Oct. 18 in a shooting attack.
Eighteen-year-old Vladislav Roslyakov turned up at the college in the city of Kerch in the afternoon of Oct. 18 carrying a firearm and then began shooting, investigators said. His body was later found in the college with what they said were self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
There were no immediate clues as to the motive for the attack which seemed to imitate shootings carried out in U.S. schools.
The head of the Russia-backed administration, Sergei Aksyonov, said the shooter was alone in the building and the investigation team had yet to find out if he had accomplices.
Pupils and staff described scenes of mayhem as panicked pupils tried to flee the building. They said the attack had started with an explosion, followed by more blasts, and a hail of gunfire.
Many of the victims from Wednesday’s attacks were teenage students who suffered shrapnel and bullet wounds.
The relatives of the students, some of whom were still missing late at night on Oct. 18, gathered outside a Kerch hospital to wait for the news as a hospital official announced the names of victims.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 , prompting international condemnation and Western sanctions, but until now there have been no major outbreaks of violence on the peninsula.
