Russian children leaped from third-story windows after a gunman opened fire inside the school killing eight people, according to reports.
Distressing footage showed children leaping from the third floor of School No 175 in the city of Kazan, in western Russia, on Tuesday morning as gunshots rang out from inside the building.
The one minute video, shot from a nearby building, recorded people running away from the building as bystanders in the distance watched the horror unfold.
As the camera zoomed in on the school, two students jumped from a window on the third floor down onto the ground below in order to escape the shooter.
After the first person leaped from the window, three loud bangs and screaming could be heard in the distance.
According to the RIA Novosti news agency, two children died after jumping from a third-floor window, although it was unclear whether it was the same two who were seen in the video.
Warning: Distressing Content in Video
В казанской гимназии произошла стрельба. По предварительным данным, погибли девять человек:https://t.co/6u1rFnmFfm pic.twitter.com/rkOxrEsqMp
— Ilya Varlamov (@varlamov) May 11, 2021
Reports of the number of dead have varied since the attack was carried out earlier this morning, although the governor of the region said eight people had died.
RIA Novosti had earlier reported that 11 people had died.
Rustam Minnikhanov, the governor of the Tatarstan Republic, said four boys and three girls, all of whom were in the eighth grade, as well as a teacher, had died in the shooting, according to the Associated Press.
The outlet reported Minnikhanov said: "The terrorist has been arrested, [he is]19 years old. A firearm is registered in his name. Other accomplices haven't been established, an investigation is underway."
Minnikhanov has since visited the school and added that it had been secured.
A video that circulated on Twitter showed a police officer kneeling on a restrained person's back at the front of the building before taking him away from the school.
Pictures showed ambulances and dozens of police outside the school following the attack.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered new gun control regulations in the country.
He added: "The thing is that firearms, which are used as assault rifles and similar weapons in certain countries, are sometimes registered as hunting guns. The Russian National Guard will urgently consider the issue."
School shootings are rare in the region, although the country was rocked in 2018, when 18-year-old student Vladislav Roslyakov shot 20 people dead and injured 70 others, before committing suicide. The incident took place at Kerch Polytechnic College, in Crimea, which is in Ukraine but controlled by Russia.
