Sevastopol, October 19, 2018
Flowers and candles adorn the Kerch monument outside the Moscow Kremlin. Photo: gazeta.ru A three-day mourning period for those killed in Wednesday’s shooting and explosion at Kerch Polytechnic College has been declared in Crimea and Sevastopol, reports RIA-Novosti.
21 people were killed in the attack, including the gunman, fourth year student Vladislav Roslyakov, and more than 50 wounded. He entered the school at about noon on Wednesday and began firing randomly. The shooting lasted about 15 minutes, and he also detonated a nail bomb. Local police also deactivated several other explosives found on campus.
“A three-day mourning period has been declared in solidarity with the Crimeans in Sevastopol,” said Sevastopol city Governor Dimitry Ovsyannikov.
A panikhida was held yesterday in the area of the college where the tragedy occurred. The Crimean Republican broadcasting company also decided not to show any entertainment programs, as a sign of respect.
Hundreds of Simferopol residents also participated in a memorial event on Lenin Square in the city center on Wednesday, laying flowers, lighting candles, and placing photographs of the college.
Memorial services are also being held in churches throughout Russia, including in the far eastern Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, and the far eastern Primorsky Krai.
Church and public officials have expressed their condolences and offered their prayers. A statement from the Moscow Patriarchal website reads, “His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia deeply mourns the deaths at the Kerch Polytechnic College. The primate of the Russian Orthodox Church prayers for the repose of the dead, the consolation of their relatives, and the speedy healing of those wounded.”
The patriarch also pledged that the Church will provide “all necessary assistance” to the victims and their relatives.
His Eminence Metropolitan Platon of Theodosia and Kerch arrived at the scene of the tragedy on Wednesday, and round-the-clock duty from priests was arranged in the morgue and in the hospital for the comfort of those who lost loved ones or were wounded, reports pravoslavie.ru.
Likewise, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine expressed his condolences yesterday: “The news of the death of people in Kerch echoed with pain in my heart. I pray that that All-Merciful Lord would grant rest to the souls of the departed, grant healing to the wounded, and grant comfort to the hearts and wipe away the tears of their loved ones.”
The names of the first 20 known victims have been published (though there is now a 21st victim—a 16-year-old girl):
1. Sergei Alexandrovich Stepanenko
2. Roman Valerievich Karimov
3. Lyudmila Alexandrovna Ustenko
4. Egor Andreevich Perepelkin
5. Anna Alexandrovna Zhuravleva
6. Bladislav Evegenievich Verdibozhenko
7. Alina Sergeevna Kerova
8. Ruslan Valerievich Lisenko
9. Ruden Rishatovich Juraev
10. Vladislav Vitalievich Lazarev
11. Alexei Vitalievich Lavrinovich
12. Nikita Danilovich Floresnky
13. Daniel Igorevich Pipenko
14. Darya Alexandrovna Chegerest
15. Vladislav Igorevich Roslyakov
16. Alexander Vladimirovich Moiseenko
17. Anastasia Vyacheslavovna Baklanova
18. Svetlana Yurievna Baklanova
19. Larisa Borisovna Kudryavtseva
20. Ksenia Alexandrovna Boldina
May their memories be eternal!
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