School shooter kills classmate, takes her life in Russia

The tragedy in Bryansk has also left several people injured, local police have confirmed

A shooting in the Russian city of Bryansk on Thursday has claimed the lives of two female students, one of whom was the attacker, local police have reported. The shooter turned the gun on herself after opening fire on her classmates. The police said five people were injured in total.

The Investigative Committee identified the shooter as a 14-year-old girl, who used a pump action firearm that she brought to the classroom. Five other people were injured in the incident, the statement said.

The Health Ministry said all the five injured victims were teenagers and had been brought to hospital for treatment. Their conditions are considered stable. One of them is undergoing surgery, the statement said.

Unconfirmed reports by Russian media said the attacker’s name was Alina. SHOT, an online news outlet, claimed she used her father’s hunting shotgun to target a group of boys who had been hazing her lately. Other sources said the police believed a personal grudge to be the most likely motive.

Russian MP Aleksandr Khinshtein posted a photo of what he said was the weapon used in the shooting, identifying the model as a Bekas-3, a 16-gauge hunting shotgun.

School shootings are relatively rare in Russia. Bryansk, a city located some 340km southwest of Moscow, experienced an incident involving an air gun in 2014, when a 15-year-old student brought one to school and used it during a conflict with classmates. One of the projectiles he fired ricocheted off a wall and slightly injured a girl.