At least six people have been killed and dozens injured after a student opened fire at a Russian university campus, authorities said Monday.
Video published to social media shows students jumping out of second-floor windows to flee the gunman at Perm State University in the city of Perm some 1,300 kilometers east of Moscow.
Russia's Investigative Committee said that six people have been killed — lowering its earlier death toll of eight — and 28 injured, several of whom have been hospitalized in varying conditions.
The Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said police shot and injured the suspected shooter after he resisted arrest and he is now being treated for his wounds in the hospital. The committee has opened a criminal murder case following the attack.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the deaths were a loss for the entire country.
"This is a great loss not only for the families who lost their children but for the whole country," Putin said in televised remarks a few hours after the shooting.
Regional authorities said that classes at local schools, colleges and universities were cancelled on Monday. Families of the victims will also receive a payout of 1 million rubles ($13,600) each, regional authorities announced.
The Investigative Committee said the suspected shooter purchased his weapon, a hunting rifle, legally in May 2021.
Both the RBC news website and the Baza Telegram channel, which is believed to be close to Russia's police force, identified the suspect as 18-year-old Timur Bekmansurov, citing unnamed sources.
The local 59.ru news website published an unconfirmed social media post from the suspected shooter where he describes in detail his plans and motivations for the attack.
"What happened was not a terrorist attack (at least from a legal point of view). I was not a member of an extremist organization, I was nonreligious and apolitical. Nobody knew what I was going to do, I carried out all these actions myself," the post reads.
In the post, the alleged shooter said he was "overflowing with hate" and that he had been planning the shooting and saving money to buy firearms for a long time.
School shootings are relatively unusual in Russia due to tight security at education facilities and because it is difficult to buy firearms legally, although it is possible to register hunting rifles.
Russia's last deadly attack at an educational facility took place in May 2021, when a 19-year-old opened fire in his old school in the central city of Kazan, killing nine people.
AFP contributed reporting.
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