A kindergarten teacher, a pensioner and two children aged five and six were shot dead Tuesday by a gunman who opened fire on a kindergarten in central Russia’s Ulyanovsk region.
The gunman, identified as Ruslan Akhtyamov, 26, ramped up and killed his neighbor Alexander Dronin, 68, before attacking the Ryabinka kindergarten in Ulyanovsk’s Veshkayma settlement.
The teacher Olga Mitrofanova was killed heroically trying to prevent Akhtyamov from entering the compound, and the children were mercilessly shot as they crouched under their sheets.
The dead children were later fully identified as Vladimir “Vova” Krylov, five, and Ekaterina “Katya” Sosnova, six.
Images, which MailOnline did not publish due to their gruesome nature, showed the bodies of Akhtyamov’s child victims in pools of blood, with their remains splattered across the walls.
The shooter eventually ended the rampage by shooting himself in the head.
Images published on Telegram showed his lifeless corpse slumped on a bed with a gaping hole in his face.
A nanny, Elena Karpova, 52, also suffered an arm injury and is in stable condition at the hospital, according to local officials.
The gunman, who had a hunting license, went to kindergarten during his nap and fired a Soviet-era IZH-27 double-barreled hunting rifle.
There was no guard on duty.
Ruslan Akhtyamov, 26 (pictured), killed his neighbor Alexander Dronin, 68, before attacking the Ryabinka kindergarten in the Veshkayma settlement of the Ulyanovsk region with a shotgun. He killed teacher Olga Mitrofanova, Vova, 5, Katya, 6, and wounded nanny Elena Karpova, 52
Pictured: An unconfirmed image of the scene outside the children’s room where the shooter opened fire
The suspect’s father identified his son (pictured) as the shooter behind the kindergarten massacre
“A man with a gun entered the kindergarten in Veshkayma village during the ‘quiet hour’, shot dead two children and a teacher, and then committed suicide,” the source told Interfax.
“According to preliminary information, there was a shooting in a kindergarten. Two children died, a teacher and the attacker,” said the head of the information department of the Ulyanovsk region Dmitry Kamal.
He said investigators were working at the scene to gather more information.
A law enforcement source told TASS that the shooting may have been the result of an “internal conflict”.
The shooter had a hunting license and legally purchased the gun he used in the attack, authorities said.
“The man had all the necessary documents and licenses for the IZH-27 gun. He was a hunter and bought the gun legally,” a source said.
The attacker’s motives are not yet known, although it is believed that the shooter was not linked to the children.
The child victims also have different surnames and are not believed to have been associated with each other outside of kindergarten.
Akhtyamov lived on the same street as the Ryabinka Nursery and was known for frequent hunting with his neighbor Dronin, who was also a hunter
A nanny, Elena Karpova, 52, also suffered an arm injury and is in stable condition at the hospital, according to local officials
The suspect’s father identified his son as the shooter behind the kindergarten massacre.
Akhtyamov lived on the same street as the Ryabinka Nursery and was known for frequent hunting with his neighbor Dronin, who was also a hunter.
Dronin’s body was found with gunshot wounds next to his car.
“I offer my deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims. This is an irreparable loss for all of us,” the region’s governor Alexei Russkikh said in a statement.
Investigators have launched criminal proceedings over the incident, the Russian investigative committee said.