Crimea shooting: full horror of college attack revealed as victims are named after gunman shot 20 dead with pump action shotgun

The horrific scale of the Crimean college massacre became clear today as the faces emerged of the young people slaughtered in a gunman's shotgun and bomb attack.

A total of 20 people were killed and 68 injured as the carnage unfolded at the college on the annexed Black Sea peninsula.

Five students remain in comas after the attack, and their condition is described as “extremely grave”.

Among the dead - mostly students aged between 15 and 19 - were a mother and daughter, Svetlana and Anastasia Baklanova, aged 57 and 26.

Acts of heroism also emerged. Teachers managed to diverted the attention of alleged killer Vlkadislav Roslyakov in order to allow students to make their escape.

Teacher Vladislav Miroshnikov revealed adults at the college in port Kerch “sacrificed their lives” to allow students to flee amid scenes of panic when the 18 year old stormed the premises with Russian word for “hatred” emblazoned on his shirt.

The alleged killer shot himself in the college library.

It came as a furious dispute arose amid claims the killer may not have acted alone.

The politician appointed by Vladimir Putin as head of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, insisted Roslyakov was the sole perpetrator, but the politician was shouted down by parents.

They told him: "You are lying! Our children say differently."

Several eyewitness accounts from students suggested there was more than one gunman.

Roslyakov had legally bought his Turkish-made Hatsan Escort pump action shotgun after undergoing legal, medical and psychiatric tests.

it is not yet clear what drove Roslyakov to attack the college. Pro-Kremlin Komsomolskaya Pravda (KP) newspaper gave four versions, none of them linked to an attack from Ukraine.

One was that he had rowed with his first girlfriend, who he had been seen with in the days before the attack. A friend was quoted as saying: “Vlad was not in the college on Monday.

“Maybe he quarrelled with his very first girlfriend?

“And he was so upset he missed a day - and then decided to punish the whole world for his failure with a girl?”

Another theory is that he was a fan of bloody computer games. A friend was quoted saying: “Vlad has always admired those who killed their classmates.

“I talked to him about it once when we were first year students. I knew he had computer games where you shoot inside the school.

“But I did not think he may do something like this in reality. “Roslyakov did not really talk about it, we discussed it just once.”

A third version portrays the boy as an “outcast” humiliated by his family’s “poverty” and his “poor clothes”.

Crimea’s senior politician Sergey Aksyonov said: "What he published on his [social network] account was not open to the public.

“Access to his account was restricted, he didn't have any friends.”

KP suggested investigators are checking if pressure from his peers was behind the attack. Finally, the newspaper claimed checks are being made on whether he had been recruited by an Islamic group.

“The version that Roslyakov might have been involved in Islamic extremist groups is being considered.

“Experts are studying this student’s mobile phone and social networks now. As soon as his gadgets are checked it will be clear if this young man was recruited by ISIS or not.”

Other reports have suggested the attack - like others on schools and colleges in Russia - has a copycat element from the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in the US.

Crimean administration head Sergey Aksyonov denied claims that the alleged killer was linked to a religious grouping.

"It's not true,” he said. He wasn't linked [to any sects].”

Children’s ombudsman for the Russian authorities now in control of Crimea, Irina Klyueva, said that investigators would carefully study what might have provoked Roslyakov.

The influence of his family, college, friends and social networks would be evaluated.

Teacher Vladislav Miroshnikov said: “When the attacker began to shoot, some people sacrificed their lives to distract him in order to let others run away and escape.”

He criticised the security system at the college.

“Metal detector, the gate barrier – all this just to tick the box. Anyone can climb the fence or the window and get inside. There were no bars anywhere.”

An “informed source” in the police has told Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper that the boy - a student at the college - “made the bombs himself and alone… he was the organiser and the implementer of this crime.”

Yet reports from some of those involved yesterday indicated there was more than one gunman.

Some of the wounded are being sent to hospitals in Moscow, Krasnodar and Simferopol for urgent treatment.

Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova: 'Overnight doctors managed to stabilise conditions of the heavily wounded. Ten teenagers were in intensive care, five of were in a grave condition, five more in extremely grave, coma-like condition.

“All ten went through surgeries. By this morning, 44 people were in hospital. All the wounded people were identified,” she said.

“Parents are with their children. They are allowed into intensive care units which is also what helped to identify everyone.

'Evacuation of heavily wounded patients begins, and they will be taken to leading hospitals in Moscow, Krasnodar and Simferopol.”

Vladislav Roslyakov’s mother Galina Roslyakova is a nurse in Kerch Cancer Clinic where some victims of her son’s violence were brought.

According to Mash news outlet, the mother was among the nurses who provided first aid to victims of her son.

She was then taken by police from her clinic. It was reported she had tried too commit suicide on hearing what her son was alleged to have done.

His parents were divorced and his 52 year old father was also taken in for questioning. Teacher Sergey Pasechnik, 30, said: “I was in the class with my students when we heard the shooting.

“I took my students outside. Then I ran back into the building, two students followed me. There were many injured.

“The doors were torn out by an explosion, so we used these doors to carry out the injured guys. Ambulances arrived shortly after.”

Three days of mourning have been announced in Crimea.

Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said: “Serious injuries of the victims came as a result of the numerous tiny particles of the explosive device.

“It was the self made bomb and it was full of small metal items, screws, washers, other stuff. Small metal parts are found in the muscles, in the soft tissue [of those injured].

“These small parts are removed from liver, from intestines, from muscles.”

She said: “Two planes with necessary equipment are ready to fly to Crimea, including Ilyushin-76 with 25 beds for patients on board.

“The majority of victims are in Kerch hospital. "All of them have leg traumas"

All bodies of those killed in the attack at Kerch Polytechnic College in Crimea have been delivered to a city morgue for identification, said deputy head of city administration Dilyaver Melgagiyev.

He confirmed the death toll had risen to 20.

"Twenty people died. The last ambulance brought to the morgue the bodies not of three, but four people. They found another body," he said.

A criminal case for terrorism had been opened but was later reclassified as mass murder, reported TASS.

KP claimed that a Turkish-made Hatsan Escort pump action shotgun was used in the attack. The teenager had at least 150 cartridges.

The alleged killer's friend Denis told KP: 'He was always very closed person from the first course. He did not communicate with anyone, unless he needed something for studies.

"He has not attended lessons since Monday, like he was ill. I wanted to message him yesterday, but his page in VK (social media) turned to be deleted.

“We have metal detectors at the entrance, of course. But they react more to the coins in your pocket than just a metal bar.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he previously a gun to check the detectors. He usually carried a hunting knife with him.

“He loved military literature, history. Surely he could learn something from there.”

Student Margarita Kuksova said in an audio recording with a friend: “There was shooting. We began to run. We jumped over the fence. I cut my hand.

“Can you imagine, we were shot? We were running and the kids were lying there” she added, crying.

“My friend Dasha was killed in front of my own eyes. I saw how she fell down and did not move, anymore, can you understand?

“The boys were falling and blood was everywhere. All this in front of my eyes... I can not bear it... I cannot calm down. I'm shaking.

“I can not even stay at home. ….I’m so scared.”