Russian schoolgirl shoots several classmates before killing herself

Video shared by RIA Novosti showed children cowered in a classroom behind a door barricaded with upended desks and chairs during the attack.

A Russian schoolgirl shot several of her classmates, killing one person and wounding five others before killing herself, state news agencies and authorities have said.

The shooting happened at a school in Bryansk, a city in a region of the same name that borders Ukraine, Russia’s Investigative Committee said.

One of the people wounded was in a serious condition, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said.

A fellow student told RIA Novosti that the girl brought the gun to the school in a tube for carrying papers.

Investigators work at the scene of a shooting in a classroom of a school in Bryansk, Russia — Investigators at the scene of the shooting at a school in Bryansk, Russia (Russian Investigative Committee via AP)

A preliminary investigation found that the assailant had brought a pump-action shotgun to the school that she used to fire at her classmates, Russia’s Investigative Committee said.

Video shared by RIA Novosti showed children cowered in a classroom behind a door barricaded with upended desks and chairs.

The dead girl’s father was taken for questioning as a witness, RIA Novosti said.

Investigators wanted to ask him how his daughter came into possession of the gun, the Telegram channel Shot reported.

The school’s director was also being questioned about how the girl managed to bring the weapon into the school and about the state of the school’s security systems, state news agency Tass reported.

The presidential children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova said on her Telegram channel that she was overseeing the care of the wounded children.

In March, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Ms Lvova-Belova and Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes, accusing them of responsibility for the abduction of children from Ukraine.

An investigator works at the scene of a shooting in a classroom of a school in Bryansk, Russia — An investigator works at the scene of the shooting in Bryansk (Russian Investigative Committee via AP)

In September 2022, a gunman opened fire in a school in central Russia, killing 17 people and wounding 24 others before shooting himself dead.

In April 2022, a man killed two children and a staff member at a kindergarten also in central Russia.

In May 2021, a man opened fire at students at his former high school in the Russian city of Kazan, killing nine people including seven children.

In 2018, an 18-year-old student in Russian-occupied Crimea killed 20 people in a mass shooting at a college.