Chilling footage shows a black-clad gunman firing as he marches toward a Russian university Monday — as desperate students leap from windows to escape.
At least eight people were killed and more than two dozen injured in the rampage.
The killer — identified as a student armed with a hunting rifle — was filmed as he opened fire at 11:30 a.m. while marching into Perm State University, where at least 3,000 people were on campus, officials said.
Wearing black tactical clothing, including a helmet, he appears to have shot his way into the campus, killing a security guard before the guard was able to trigger a panic button, the Independent said.
Students used chairs and furniture to barricade themselves in rooms, as a stream of others were filmed desperately jumping out second-story windows at least 20 feet high.
Some tried to climb down, while most just flung themselves out at the first opportunity, many landing awkwardly with loud cries of pain. Other footage showed dozens of students racing away from the shooter.
Student Lev Zenkov told the Independent that the shooting lasted for “20 to 30 minutes.”
“Everyone is in shock and tears,” he said, detailing how the gunman roamed the ground and first floors of the building.
The gunman was wounded after resisting arrest and was being treated in a hospital, the Investigative Committee law enforcement agency said.
University spokesperson Natalia Pechishcheva had initially said the shooter had been “liquidated,” but later confirmed he was in police custody.
The death toll, initially thought to be five, rose to eight later Monday.
At least 28 people were still being treated for injuries, with 19 reported to have also suffered gunshot wounds. It was not immediately clear if any of the other injured were those hurt while jumping.
Officials confirmed that the killer was a student using a legally purchased hunting rifle, but did not identify him.
Local reports named him as 18-year-old student Timur Bekmansurov, who earlier posted a social media photo of himself posing with a rifle, helmet and ammunition.
“I don’t know how many I can kill, but I will do everything to take as many with me as I can,” he wrote in one post, according to the Independent.
He added that he targeted the university because it had “committed a serious mistake” four years ago, without elaborating on what it was.
“I want to leave as much pain in the world as I can so everyone I can’t kill will remember this day forever,” he said, according to East2West News.
He said he “liked causing pain to people” and was “unstoppable,” saying, “I detest myself as much as I test all of you.
“At least I will feel alive for the last ten minutes of my life,” he wrote, seemingly assuming he would not make it out alive from the slaughter.
He also detailed how he passed psychiatric tests to get his gun license, saying, “I could have fooled every psychiatrist,” East2West said.
The Kremlin would only say that the gunman was likely disturbed.
President Vladimir Putin instructed two ministers to go to Perm to help the wounded as well as the families of the dead, his spokesman told Russia’s Tass news agency.
“The president conveys [his] deep condolences to those who lost their relatives and friends as a result of this tragedy,” the Kremlin spokesman stated.
With Post wires
