At Least 40 Dead and 100 Injured in Moscow Concert Hall Shooting with Multiple Shooters: Reports

Esme Mazzeo
·2 min read
5

Gunmen opened fire in a crowded concert hall in Moscow on Friday night, killing at least 40 and injuring 100 people

<p>STRINGER/AFP via Getty</p> Emergency services vehicles are seen outside the burning Crocus City Hall concert hall

STRINGER/AFP via Getty

Emergency services vehicles are seen outside the burning Crocus City Hall concert hall

At least 40 people are dead and 100 injured after a shooting inside of a concert hall in Moscow, Russia Friday night, according to multiple reports.

Russian news agency TASS reported that 40 people were killed inside Crocus City Hall near Moscow, per a statement from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).

"According to preliminary data, as a result of the terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall building 40 people were killed and over 100 were injured," the FSB statement said.

<p>STRINGER/AFP via Getty</p>

STRINGER/AFP via Getty

TASS has also reported that at least two of the victims were children, per the Russian TV channel Rossiya-24.

One boy has a gunshot wound and is in "moderately grave condition" while another boy was "struck with the buttstock of a rifle" and is in stable condition.

Eyewitnesses told TASS that there was also an explosion.

"It has been preliminarily established that there are dead and wounded people as a result of a blast and automatic gunfire at the Crocus City Hall," an unnamed eyewitness said.

Other attendees initially mistook the gunshots for other sounds.

<p>STRINGER/AFP via Getty</p> Ambulances are seen at the scene of the shooting at the Crocus City Hall concert hall in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow

STRINGER/AFP via Getty

Ambulances are seen at the scene of the shooting at the Crocus City Hall concert hall in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow

"First, we started hearing typical loud pops, but it was impossible to understand that they were gunshots. We thought that something was falling, as exhibitions were being dismantled at that moment, and someone seemed to be dropping something large. Then, the bangs were getting more and more frequent. Suddenly, there was a scream, and the bangs started to be heard as bursts. Then it became clear that it was shooting," eyewitness Mikhail Semyonov told TASS.

The Wall Street Journal reported that tickets for the concert, which was scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. local time on Friday night, were sold out. The venue contains thousands of seats.

Witnesses told RIA Novosti that "attackers burst into the concert hall and began shooting people at point-blank range and throwing smoke bombs," WSJ reported.

Russian special services are conducting a search operation, and mayor Sergey Sobyanin canceled all mass events in Moscow through the weekend, per TASS.

This story is developing.

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