A shooting just at the beginning of a concert caused panic this Friday night in the Crocus City Hall concert hall, located in Krasnogorsk, a city on the outskirts of Moscow, northwest of the Russian capital. The gunshots caused a stampede and the evacuation of thousands of people. Although there are no official figures, testimonies provided by Russian media assure that there are deaths and injuries.
“All the guests were in place” waiting for the Piknik group’s performance to begin, a witness, Svetlana, explained to the RBK media. “I was in the lobby, I heard the shots of automatic weapons and a crowd then ran through the service entrance without warm clothes, a stampede had started. On the street I heard the shots again. Now, the police are on the scene. “Crocus, firefighters are fighting with a column of smoke,” the woman added.
As a result of the attack, a fire broke out in the Crocus City complex, where the concert hall is located. A video published by several Russian agencies shows clouds of smoke and flames billowing from the building. According to Tass, people who were trapped remained in that area surrounded by flames. Special units of the Russian National Guard, Police and firefighters are working at the scene, says Tass. Fire services even used a helicopter to try to contain the flames.
Several witnesses cited by the Baza channel confirm the previous testimony and claim that they saw a man open fire with a machine gun.
In addition, videos broadcast by the Telegram channel Mash show several individuals dressed in camouflage clothing and masked.
According to Russian television, the attackers also used grenades. There are deaths and injuries, but no official figures are known.
A journalist from the Ría Nóvosti news agency reported that there were at least three shooters. “At least three broke into the stalls of Crocus City Hall and opened fire with automatic weapons. There are surely people injured,” he explained.
The news on the state television channel Rossiya24 assumed that it was a well-organized attack. One of the witnesses told the channel Care, news that “they were shooting from all sides.”
“We were just sitting on the bottom floor, then we heard gunshots and we started moving down, we realized they were shooting. We lay down on the floor, but then we realized that all the people were going up to get out on top “They were shooting from all sides. We saw people running down the escalators and we ran after them. We saw a girl murdered there,” the witness said.
While the Special Rapid Response Squadron (SOBR), integrated into the National Guard, and the Riot Police (OMON) began to assault the building to confront the attackers, the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobianin, announced that this weekend there are still All events that involve the concentration of large numbers of people have been cancelled, including sporting and cultural events.
The rescue teams were able to act and rescue nearly a hundred people who had taken refuge in the basement of the building. They were able to get them out through the roof.
