An account of mass murder at Moscow "Crocus City Hall"

[IvanTheTerribleShot]

https://www.vedomosti.ru/society/articles/2024/03/25/1027696-18-minut-kak-razvivalis-sobitiya-v-krokus-siti-holle?ysclid=lu793lk01a320954880 (In Russian)'

Interesting points.
- Terrorist attack took 18 minutes and claimed 137 lives, another 180 injured; building capacity was 9500 with all tickets sold.
- Some of the victims survived shooting played dead and escaping when an opportunity came
- One of the assailants poured flammable liquid on the chairs and set them on fire. Most of the victims succumbed to fire, smoke, and resulting building structural collapse.
- 10 bodies were found in the restroom and 14 more on the escape staircase - those apparently suffocated
- Building had plentiful means of egress, or else the scale of the tragedy would be more severe
- (Read elsewhere) At least one of the offenders (but likely all of them) was from Tajikistan with a history of immigration law violation - in 2018 he was fined a symbolic amount of 5000 rubles and ordered to "commit a controlled self-return" back to his country

One of spectators named Mikhail managed to take down an assailant who separated from the others, with his bare hands.
"The moment he caught up with us, he started reloading, I had a second for deliberation, I pushed my wife away, flanked him on the left, pulled the rifle down with my left hand,
and with the right started hitting him on the head. He started sagging, I grabbed him by the neck with my left and continued delivering blows.
Then another man arrived and also hit him powerfully, and so we knocked him out." [ I think that miscreant perished in the process]

Four teenagers who worked at the venue's dressing room are also credited with saving hundreds of lives of people who, in their panic, were heading for a dead end.
According to one of the boys, 15-year Islam Khalilov: "I did everything as I should have, to the max. I thought: if I freeze in a shock, I lose my life and so will hundreds of people around".
__________
I only have one word to describe this tragedy: target rich environment. In Russia, gun control is milder than in many European countries, definitely milder than in Canada, UK, and Australia; it's easy to get a shotgun permit; rifle requires jumping though hoops; but concealable firearms are unheard of. Non-lethal pistols are popular, but they are only useful against an opportunistic hooligan.

[crbutler]

One think I thought interesting from the reporting I saw…

The place had a big sign over it - “Crocus City Hall”…. In English.

It seems to me that the anti American sentiment is probably more on the part of Putin and the government apparatus than the Russian people. I hope that Russia can change course and get a better man than Putin as president. Certainly a totalitarian regime doesn’t want its citizens armed.

I also don’t get how “hooligans” from Tajikistan with ISIS claiming responsibility are somehow Ukrainian operatives- especially when the money they are claiming they were paid is so minimal ($5000 in roubles)…

Ugly event. The religion of peace is sure proving they are not peaceful.

[americos]

On video from inside concert hall, you can see FSB guys with same blue short and jeans.
Looks organized and not running.
People who was there , asking each other ,before everything start , “how come no security around on such event” .