2014 Moscow school shooting

2014 Moscow school shooting
Location	Otradnoye District, Moscow, Russia
Coordinates	55°51′25″N37°36′51″E / 55.85694°N 37.61417°E / 55.85694; 37.61417
Date	February 3, 2014 (2014-02-03) c. 11:40 a.m. – c. 1:00 p.m. (UTC+04:00)
Target	School No. 263
Attack type	School shooting, hostage taking, shooting spree
Weapons	Browning SA-22, Unspecified shotgun
Deaths	2 [1]
Injured	1
Perpetrator	Sergey Gordeyev
Motive	Mental illness

On February 3, 2014, 15-year-old high school student Sergey Gordeyev opened fire at School No. 263 in Otradnoye District, Moscow, Russia, killing a teacher. Gordeyev then took 29 students hostage, killed one police officer, and injured another. Later on, he surrendered to the authorities. It is the first reported school shooting in Russia's modern history. ^{[lower-alpha 1] [2]}

Shooting

At around 11:40 A.M., Gordeyev, concealing his weapons with a bag and fur coat, ^[3] went to his school armed with a small-caliber rifle and shotgun that belonged to his father, ^[4] a police colonel. ^[5] He threatened the security guard and went to his geography classroom, where he shot his teacher, 29-year-old Andrey Kirillov (Russian : Андрей Кириллов). After killing Kirillov, he then took the class of 29 students hostage. ^[6] Gordeyev then shot at responding police officers in the school, wounding Warrant Officer Sergei Bushuyev, 38, and Senior Sergeant Vladimir Krokhin, 29; Bushuyev later died at the scene, while Krokhin survived a gunshot wound to the shoulder. ^{[1] [4]}

About an hour after the shooting first started, the Special Forces responded to the scene. Gordeyev initially called his mother before the Special Forces called in his father to negotiate with him. He initially spoke with Gordeyev on the phone for fifteen minutes before being brought into the school with a bulletproof vest to personally talk to him; thirty minutes afterward, Gordeyev released the hostages. At around 1:00 P.M., Gordeyev surrendered to authorities and was captured. A Russian report stated that a total of eleven shots were fired by Gordeyev during the shooting. ^{[1] [7]}

Perpetrator

15-year-old Sergey Gordeyev (Russian : Сергей Гордеев,also spelled Sergei Gordeev; born October 4, 1998) was identified as the perpetrator of the shooting. He attended School No. 263. Two possible motives were given. According to the first, which was later rejected, Gordeyev opened fire for revenge against the geography teacher who was trying to interfere with his planned graduation with honors. ^{[1] [7] [8]} Another version suggested that Gordeyev had an emotional disorder, yet he had had no previous apparent conflicts with either teachers or fellow pupils, although some described him as "strange". Sergei Gordeyev believed in the theory of solipsism—that the only life that truly existed was his own—and considered other people to be an illusion. Gordeyev's initial plans were to come to school, tell his classmates about his thoughts, and shoot himself, but he chose to shoot the geography teacher because "no one believed that he would shoot." ^{[8] [9]}

A medical examination confirmed that Gordeyev had symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia. The court sentenced him to involuntary treatment in a psychiatric hospital. ^[10]

Reaction

Improvised memorial for the victims of the shooting

Politician Irina Yarovaya mentioned that the event might be linked to violent video games and recommended tighter gun control. ^[1]

Politician Aleksey Pushkov suggested exposure to American culture might be to blame. ^[1]

At a meeting with theater workers, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that such tragedies might be prevented by placing a greater emphasis on culture in children's upbringing, such as the theatrical arts. ^[11]

See also

• School shootings in Europe
• List of attacks related to secondary schools

Notes

1. The 2004 Beslan school siege is considered to be a terrorist attack

References

1. Ian Bateson and Maria Tsvetkova (February 3, 2014). "Moscow teen kills two in rare Russian school shooting". Reuters. Retrieved December 6, 2015.
2. Sukhov, Oleg and Matthew Bodner. "First-Ever School Shooting Prompts Debate on Security." The Moscow Times . February 3, 2014. Retrieved on March 22, 2014. "Police officers evacuating children from School No. 263 in the Otradnoye district in northeast Moscow on Monday after a shooting at the"
3. "Школьник Сергей прятал оружие под шубой". НТВ.
4. Loiko, By Sergei L. (February 3, 2014). "Student shoots, kills two at Moscow high school". Los Angeles Times .
5. Khazov-Kasia, Sergey (February 10, 2014). "Школьный стрелок". The New Times . Archived from the original on February 21, 2014.
6. "Student gunman kills 2, briefly takes hostages at Russian school". Fox News. March 20, 2015.
7. Marie-Louise Gumuchian and Alla Eshchenko (February 3, 2014). "Two dead after gunman takes students hostage in Moscow school". CNN. Retrieved December 6, 2015.
8. "Student With Rifles Kills 2 in Standoff at Moscow School". The New York Times. February 4, 2014. Retrieved December 6, 2015.
9. "After deadly Moscow school shooting, Putin calls for emphasis on culture". Archived from the original on February 22, 2014.
10. "Устроившего стрельбу в школе старшеклассника отправили на принудительное лечение" (in Russian). Interfax. March 3, 2015. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
11. Evgeniy Moruz/Daria Buyanova, Metro World News in Moscow (October 11, 2014). "After deadly Moscow school shooting, Putin calls for emphasis on culture". Metro. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved December 6, 2015.