Moscow — Russia’s Investigative Committee said on Wednesday that a fatal attack on a college in Crimea was a case of mass murder not terrorism and named 18-year-old student Vladislav Roslyakov as its chief suspect in the rampage.
Roslyakov had gone on a shooting spree in the college before committing suicide, the committee said, and could be seen beforehand on CCTV entering the school with a rifle.
Russia’s National Anti-terrorism Committee said that there could have been more than one person behind the attack that killed 18 and injured 50 people, and that a search was underway for other possible participants, RIA news agency reported.
The security body was quoted as saying that an initial examination of the bodies at the site of the attack in the Crimean port city of Kerch showed that casualties had died of gunshot wounds, RIA news agency reported.
It also said that the suspect shot himself and his body had been found inside the college.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that investigators were trying to work out the motive He made the comments at a joint news conference in Moscow with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
The attack took place at a college in the Black Sea region of Crimea on Wednesday when at least one attacker set off a bomb in the cafeteria and went through the building shooting at random, officials said.