Student kills at least 17 in Crimean rampage

Russian officials said an 18-year student attacked his vocational school in Crimea, going on a rampage that killed at least 17 students and left more than 40 people wounded before killing himself.

A soldier in Crimea (Picture: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

One student said the shooting went on for at least 15 minutes. The attacker is believed to have been caught on security cameras entering Kerch Polytechnic College in the Black Sea city of Kerch and firing at students.

He was identified him as Vladislav Roslyakov.

The fourth-year student shot himself in the school’s library after the attack. All the victims died of gunshot wounds.

The statements came after hours of rapidly shifting explanations by Russian officials as to what exactly happened at the school. Officials at first reported a gas explosion then said an explosive device had ripped through the college canteen during lunchtime in a suspected terrorist attack. Russian president Vladimir Putin deplored the attack as a “tragic event”.