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image copyrightUlnovosti.ru/TASS
The room where the attacker opened fire during “quiet time”
In the Ulyanovsk region, there was a shooting in a kindergarten, four people were killed. Among those killed were two children.
“According to preliminary data, two children were among the dead. The one who opened fire also died. One of the employees of the kindergarten also died,” the Ministry of Education of the Ulyanovsk region said.
The regional government also confirmed the fact of a shooting in a kindergarten and information about several dead.
“We confirm the act of shooting and the presence of four bodies,” a representative of the regional government told Interfax.
The ex-governor of the Ulyanovsk region and State Duma deputy Sergei Morozov wrote in his Telegram channel that, according to preliminary information, children born in 2016 and 2017 were killed.
According to TASS and Interfax, citing sources, an armed man entered a kindergarten, where he shot two children and a nanny, and then committed suicide.
The incident took place in the village of Veshkayma during “quiet time”, the attacker’s motives are not known, Interfax’s interlocutor said.
According to the Ministry of Health of the region, another employee of the kindergarten received a gunshot wound to the hand.
The Investigative Committee opened a case on the murder of two or more persons (part 2 of article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
image copyrightUlnovosti.ru/TASS
TASS, citing a source, reports that a domestic conflict could have been the cause of the shooting. “He opened fire in the room where the children were sleeping,” the source said.
Tatyana Moskalkova, Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia, spoke about the identity of the alleged shooter.
“The killer Akhtyamov Ruslan Rushanovich, born in 1996, a resident of Veshkaym, is registered as mentally ill,” she wrote in her Telegram channel.
According to preliminary data, the man fired from the Soviet double-barreled hunting rifle IZH-27.
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Veshkaima is a working settlement in the north-west of the Ulyanovsk region, where approximately 5.5 thousand people live
At the same time, as the vice-governor of the region Alexander Korobko said, the gun belonged to another person – not to the one who shot.
“The owner of the weapon that he received legally has been identified. His place of residence is being established,” Valery Gribakin, official representative of the Russian Guard, said in turn.
As Moskalkova clarified, the gun belonged to Alexander Tronin, born in 1954. Interfax, citing a source, reports that he was killed.
“The body was found in a quarry. Presumably, he was killed. Two shots were fired,” the source said.
According to Vice-Governor Alexander Korobko, the killer allegedly shot the owner of the gun when they went to shoot the gun.
image copyrightvolkodav73/TASS
Ombudsman for children’s rights in the Ulyanovsk region Ekaterina Smoroda said that the attacker got into the kindergarten, using an accidentally opened door.
“According to preliminary information, the man came to the kindergarten with a gun, could not get into the main entrance, which was closed, as required by the rules. He went around the building and found the porch where the employee was washing the floors, grabbed her hand and, taking advantage of the situation, entered building. At the same time, he injured her,” she told Interfax.
