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Russian 12-Year-Old Opens Fire at Middle School

The boy fired two shots into the ceiling and a glass door, authorities said. SHOT / telegram

Police detained a 12-year-old Russian boy Monday after he brought his father’s hunting rifle to school and fired two shots, causing no serious injuries.

The incident took place Monday morning at a middle school in the village of Sars, near the Urals city of Perm, Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement.

“On the morning of Oct. 18, a 12-year-old schoolboy brought a firearm with him to an educational institution. In the presence of several teenagers, he fired two shots at the ceiling and a fiberglass door. Shards from broken glass inflicted cut wounds on an 11-year-old schoolboy,” the Investigative Committee of the Perm Region said.

“The investigation is working to establish the motives for the juvenile’s actions, as well as the circumstances in which the boy gained access to the weapon.”

Two criminal cases have been opened, it added.

The school principal called the boy to her office and convinced him to hand over the gun, the state-run TASS news agency reported.

"The student was in a state of emotional distress,” the regional Ministry of Territorial Security said in a statement. 

The incident comes weeks after a first-year student at nearby Perm University killed six people and left dozens injured in a campus shooting.

A shooting at a school in the Russian city of Kazan earlier this year which killed seven students and two teachers sparked a fresh debate on the issue of rising numbers of school shootings, historically rare occurrences, across Russia. 

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