A nursery school teacher, a pensioner and two children aged five and six have been shot dead by a gunman who opened fire at a nursery in Russia’s central Ulyanovsk region on Tuesday.
The gunman, who has been identified as Ruslan Akhtyamov, 26, went on frenzied rampage killing his neighbour Alexander Dronin, 68, before attacking Ryabinka nursery in the Veshkayma settlement of Ulyanovsk.
Teacher Olga Mitrofanova was killed as she heroically tried to prevent Akhtyamov entering the premises, and the children were shot mercilessly as they cowered under their bedsheets.
The dead children were later named in full as Vladimir ‘Vova’ Krylov, five, and Ekaterina ‘Katya’ Sosnova, six.
Images which the MailOnline has chosen not to 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.
vCard.red is a free platform for creating a mobile-friendly digital business cards. You can easily create a vCard and generate a QR code for it, allowing others to scan and save your contact details instantly.
The platform allows you to display contact information, social media links, services, and products all in one shareable link. Optional features include appointment scheduling, WhatsApp-based storefronts, media galleries, and custom design options.
The shooter finally put the killing spree to an end 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 a stable condition at hospital according to local officials.
The armed man, who had a hunter’s license, walked into the kindergarten during nap time and fired from a Soviet-era double-barrelled hunting shotgun, an IZH-27.
There was no guard on duty.
Ruslan Akhtyamov, 26 (pictured) killed his neighbour Alexander Dronin, 68, before attacking Ryabinka nursery in the Veshkayma settlement in 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 nursery where the gunman opened fire
The suspect’s father identified his son (pictured) as the gunman behind the nursery massacre
‘A man with a gun entered the nursery in the village of Veshkayma during the ”quiet hour”, shot two children and a teacher, and then committed suicide,’ the source told Interfax.
‘According to preliminary information there was a shooting in a nursery . As a result, two children, a teacher and the attacker died,’ the head of the Ulyanovsk region information department, Dmitry Kamal, said.
He said investigators were working at the scene to establish further information.
A source in law enforcement told news agency TASS that the shooting may have been the result of a ‘domestic conflict’.
The shooter had a hunter’s licence and bought the gun he used in the attack legally, 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,’ an informed source said.
The attacker’s motives are not yet known, though the shooter is not believed to have been linked to the children.
The child victims also have different surnames and are not thought to have been linked outside of the nursey.
Akhtyamov lived on the same street as the Ryabinka nursery, and was known to go shooting frequently with his neighbour Dronin, who was also a hunter
A nanny, Elena Karpova, 52, also suffered an arm injury and is in a stable condition at hospital according to local officials
The suspect’s father identified his son as the gunman behind the kindergarten massacre.
Akhtyamov lived on the same street as the Ryabinka nursery, and was known to go shooting frequently with his neighbour Dronin, who was also a hunter.
Dronin’s body was found next to his car with gunshot wounds.
‘I express my deep condolences to the families and friends of the victims. This is an irreplaceable loss for all of us’, the region’s governor Alexei Russkikh said in a statement.
Investigators have opened a criminal case over the incident, Russia’s Investigative Committee said.