The suspect in the Kerch college attack has been identified as a student. He committed suicide after killing 17 people and injuring dozens with gunfire and a blast.

“The suspected murderer shot himself,” Sergey Aksenov told the media. “He was a senior student of the same college.”



The official added that the number of people killed in the attack, which is reportedly mostly made up of students, has risen to 18, apparently including the suspect. Earlier, witnesses claimed there were multiple masked attackers involved, but Aksenov didn’t mention any possible accomplices.

Russia’s investigative committee has named the suspect as Vladislav Roslyakov and said he was 18, rather than 22 as first reported. It added the incident was now considered a multiple homicide rather than a terrorist attack.

READ MORE: Crimea college shooting investigated as murder, not terror attack - investigative committee

The violence in a Kerch polytechnic college was initially reported as a gas leak blast. It later became clear that an improvised explosive device was responsible for the powerful explosion, which happened in the canteen of the college on the first floor.

This is the first major attack on Crimean soil since the region joined with Russia in 2014 following a popular referendum. With mass school shootings uncommon in Russia, the massacre has been compared to the tragic 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis and siege, in which 333 people were killed.

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