Mass shooting at a college in Crimea kills 19 people.

Russian national guard respond to the attack. BBC/PA.

A mass shooting at a college in Crimea has killed 19 people and wounded dozens more. BBC. An 18 year old man named Vladislav Roslyakov ran through the Kerch Technical College shooting his fellow students with a shotgun and using explosives against them as well. Roslyakov then killed himself. Russian authorities say the attack was not related to terrorism but was instead an act of mass murder. Roslyakov's motive remain unclear but he had expressed anger about the college and wanted "revenge" on his teachers. It is unclear how Roslyakov got his weapons as some reports say he had a permit while others say he did not. 

For a Russian source covering this attack see RT's coverage here.

Another Russian source, Sputnik, has live updates.

Video from the scene of the attack:

My Comment:

A quick note, though I consider it inconsequential to this story, I will recognize that Crimea is largely ethnically Russian and is under control of the Russian government. I only mention it because every western news outlet had to have a couple paragraphs explaining that Crimea was once controlled by Ukraine but was annexed by Russia. I'm not trying to make a political statement about the annexation either way, I just find it easier to call everyone involved in this as Russian. 

As for the attack itself, it seems like the attacker was a fan of American school shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Indeed, photos taken from the scene of the attack makes it pretty clear that Roslyakov was dressed almost identically to Eric Harris during the Columbine attack. It's uncanny and I don't think there is anyway it was unintentional. The Russian sources are making a huge deal out of this so I assume it's legit. 

I don't really understand why a Russian man would idolize those two idiots but apparently he did. It just goes to show how influential our culture is in America if even our killers inspire other people to kill. The intensive media coverage of American school shootings is an international phenomenon and I think this case shows why that is such a bad thing. Had we not made celebrities out of Harris and Klebold perhaps this attack would have never happened. 

It seems that Roslyakov copied more than just the clothing of the Columbine attackers as his weapons were similar as well. The Columbine attacker used pipe bombs and it appears that Roslyakov did too. Harris and Klebold also used a pair of shotguns in their attack and it appears that Roslyakov used one, though I am not sure of the model. I had assumed it might have been a Saiga-12 but the pictures don't really match that. 

Vladislav Roslyakov, who killed 17 people at a Crimea college, used the nickname "Reich" online & was obsessed with serial killers, Russian media are reporting. Creepiest of all is the suggestion he (at right) emulated Columbine killer Eric Harris with a white t-shirt & shotgun pic.twitter.com/8mvrzCSmMe

— Alec Luhn (@ASLuhn) October 17, 2018

There doesn't seem to be good information as to where Roslyakov got his shotgun from though. Some sources say he had a permit while other sources say he did not. Russia's gun control laws are more restrictive than America's but somewhat looser than Western Europe's, but either way it's very easy to get a gun in Russia and Ukraine, especially after the war in Donbass. 

Watching the video of the attack I was stunned by the reaction of the people. Though their voices seemed pretty shocked it was pretty surreal to see people just walking by a building where dozens of people were getting shot. In America there would have been people booking it out of there and maybe panicking but the people in the video did not see to be worried at all. 

It doesn't seem like the Russian's response time was all that good. With the number of people killed and wounded in this attack, it seems like Roslyakov had plenty of time to shoot. It's unclear what the circumstances of his suicide were as I don't know if he knew cops were on the scene or if he just wanted to end his attack but either way I consider it a failure by the Russian authorities in Crimea that they weren't able to stop him and he went out on his own terms. 

School shootings are seen as an American affair but Russia has had problems with them as well. Everyone should remember the Beslan massacre in 2004 that killed hundreds of people, so it's not like this hasn't happened in Russia before. However, that was a terror attack and it's pretty clear that this was not so perhaps things are changing. 

I don't think this case will be covered much in the American media, unlike American school shootings. First of all, American media absolutely despises Russia to the point where I don't think they would even be upset to see this happen. Second, this attack can't really be used to attack gun rights as Russia has more restrictions on guns than even the most gun controlled blue states, though they have loosened their laws somewhat. Finally, the attacker used a shotgun and explosives, not a scary black rifle, though I doubt the media would understand the difference between a shotgun and a AK variant. Indeed, this story was big news in the morning when I first saw it but I had to look pretty hard to find coverage when I wrote it this evening. I am guessing it gets memory holed soon. 

Domestically, I don't know how Russia reacts to this. Russia has a long and tragic experience with major terror attacks, civil unrest and warfare. The Russian people also tend to be cynical and stoic so I am guessing that this attack won't have the over the top hysteria that we have in America whenever something like this happens. I also don't see any major changes to Russia's gun laws as they have been trending to the other direction where guns are more favored. They recently got CCW but their laws are still fairly strict when it comes to licencing.