A 10-year-old boy was stabbed to death by an older student at a school in Russia on Tuesday, investigators said, with special forces and bomb disposal experts rushed to the scene.
A 15-year-old boy is accused of killing the child and injuring a security guard during a rampage with a knife and pepper spray in the village of Gorki-2, in the region of Moscow.
Authorities were called to Uspenskaya Comprehensive School around 9am as dozens of children fled and sheltered in a nearby sports complex or hid in classrooms.
Armed police arrived on the scene to arrest the suspect, who was identified only as a male student from the school.
Bomb disposal teams also searched the campus after what appeared to be an improvised explosive device was allegedly found among the suspect’s belongings, according to the SHOT Telegram channel.
It was not immediately clear what had prompted the attack. Investigators and forensic experts were brought in as Russia’s investigative committee said it had opened a criminal case for murder and attempted murder.
Emergency services told the TASS news agency that the suspect is believed to be ‘a follower of a destructive youth movement’.
Local outlets reported that he was wearing a T-shirt printed with the slogan ‘No Lives Matter’.
According to the RIA news agency, the suspect pepper-sprayed and stabbed the security guard before walking the corridors for more victims.
The 10-year-old child was then stabbed several times before later succumbing to their wounds despite attempts to save him, the agency reports.
Some teachers and students were able to evacuate the campus while others barricaded reportedly themselves inside classrooms. Parents tried to pull their children from the windows to rescue them, according to Gazeta.ru.
The suspect has admitted responsibility under questioning, RIA reports. He faces up to 10 years in prison.
There was contradictory information circulating on Tuesday about how many people had been injured, and the motives of the attacker.The Independent was unable to verify footage circulating online.
It came just a day after a student in the Krasnogvardeisky district of St. Petersburg stabbed a teacher for failing them on a test, according to the interior ministry.
