Sergey Gordeyev

Case record: Sergey Gordeyev

Background

Sergey Gordeyev (also spelled as Sergei Gordeev; Russian: Сергей Гордеев) was a 15-year-old high school student. He attended School No. 263. He was described as a “model student” and “quiet”, and as a student who set up “an example for the whole school”.

Gordeyev was reported to have conflicts with a geography teacher. Some initial reports stated that the teacher was not Andrey Kirillov, but Kirillov was later identified as the teacher Gordeyev had conflicts with.

Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin later stated that Gordeyev was suffering from an emotional disorder. Other students stated that he had no previous apparent conflicts with other teachers and fellow pupils.

The offence

On February 3, 2014, Gordeyev opened fire at School No. 263 in Otradnoye District, Moscow, Russia.

Gordeyev concealed his weapons with a bag and fur coat and went to his school armed with a Tikka T3 rifle and a small-caliber Japanese Browning BAR M1918 that belonged to his father, a police colonel. He threatened the security guard and then went to his geography classroom.

In the geography classroom, he shot teacher Andrey Kirillov, 29, in the stomach. Upon seeing he was still alive, he fatally shot Kirillov in the head. After killing Kirillov, Gordeyev took the class of 29 students hostage.

Gordeyev then shot at responding police officers in the school. Warrant Officer Sergei Bushuyev, 38, was wounded and later died at a hospital. Senior Sergeant Vladimir Krokhin, 29, was shot and wounded in the shoulder and survived.

A Russian report stated that a total of eleven shots were fired by Gordeyev during the shooting.

Investigation

The incident began around 11:40 a.m. The security guard pressed an alarm button, and police were brought to the school.

Special Forces responded to the scene. Gordeyev initially called his mother before being in phone contact with negotiations involving his father.

Vladimir Markin said the Moscow student may have suffered an “emotional breakdown”.

Arrest

About an hour after the shooting first started, Special Forces responded to the scene. Gordeyev initially spoke with his mother before the Special Forces called in his father to negotiate with him. He spoke with Gordeyev on the phone for fifteen minutes before being brought into the school with a bulletproof vest to personally talk to him.

Thirty minutes after Gordeyev began releasing students, he released the hostages. After that, Gordeyev was alone with his father. Later on, thirty minutes afterward (as described in the account), Gordeyev released the hostages, and special forces seized the moment and the 10th grader was neutralized and detained.

At around 1:00 p.m., Gordeyev surrendered to authorities and was captured.

Trial

Gordeyev was in prison awaiting trial.

Outcome

Gordeyev remained in custody awaiting trial.

Aftermath

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the incident a tragedy. He asked for attention to children’s education and gun control. He told a Moscow Kremlin advisory council on the arts and culture that “the new generation...needs to be raised with good artistic taste and the ability to understand and value the theatrical, dramatic and musical arts.”

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin later stated that schools in Moscow had been set to be reviewed for security.

Criticism was also aimed at violent video games and exposure to American culture. Irina Yarovaya, a pro-Kremlin lawmaker who heads the security committee in the State Duma, put some blame on “propaganda of aggression”, such as violent computer games, but also said access to guns should be tightened. She said the punishment for legal gun owners whose negligence enabled others to get their hands on weapons was “infinitesimal”.

Duma international affairs committee head Alexei Pushkov suggested Russia had embraced U.S. culture with deadly effect and said, “Moscow school shooting: American movies and domestic serials, full of violence, are producing results - now it is like the USA here,” and “Is this what we wanted?” via a tweet.

Victims and injuries

Two people were killed in the shooting, while a third was wounded.

• Andrey Kirillov, 29 — teacher — killed.
• Warrant Officer Sergei Bushuyev, 38 — policeman — killed.
• Senior Sergeant Vladimir Krokhin, 29 — policeman — wounded (gunshot wound to the shoulder).

People involved

• Sergey Gordeyev (also spelled as Sergei Gordeev; Russian: Сергей Гордеев) — perpetrator.
• Andrey Kirillov (Russian: Андрей Кириллов) — teacher — killed.
• Sergei Bushuyev — Warrant Officer — killed.
• Vladimir Krokhin — Senior Sergeant — wounded.
• Vladimir Markin — Investigative Committee spokesman.
• Anatoly Yakunin — Moscow police chief.
• Sergey Sobyanin — Moscow Mayor.
• Vladimir Putin — Russian President.
• Irina Yarovaya — pro-Kremlin lawmaker; heads the security committee in the State Duma.
• Alexei Pushkov — Duma international affairs committee head.
• Andrei Pilipchuk — Interior Ministry spokesman.
• Ivan Chekanov — hostage described in an account.
• Sakhobudin Tagoyev — former classmate described in an account.
• Sklifosovsky hospital in Moscow — facility where a wounded officer was rushed.

Verbatim quotations

Ivan Chekanov, 16, told Reuters later on Monday: “We were glad to see him at first - but then he shot the geography teacher,”

He added: “He fired the shot, then he got up onto the podium, laid out his rifles and said he had 100 bullets and that he had come to die.”

Chekanov said by telephone: “WHY IS HE STILL ALIVE?”

Chekanov said: “Andrei Nikolayevich (the teacher) was dripping with blood, he had fallen but he was still alive,”

Chekanov said: “The attacker) asked us: 'Why is he still alive? I killed him.' Everyone was silent.”

Chekanov said: “He said, 'Well, guys, your answer gets a 'D', and fired several more shots,”

A dramatic text message from a girl in Gordeyev’s class to her mother during the siege read: “A machine gun. We are at school. He is shooting. 'Mama, aaaa-aa-aa. Save me! Its not a joke. Mama. Its awful. He's gone mad. We are hostages on floor 1, room 2.”

A teenage girl said: “He shot the teacher in the stomach. Then he wanted to make sure that he was dead, so he fired another 'insurance' shot to the head.”

An exchange with Reuters online included the former classmate Sakhobudin Tagoyev saying: “The teachers liked and respected him,” “He was like Einstein.”

Tagoyev said: “But Tagoyev also said the alleged attacker was quick to get nervous "if something did not work out for him ... or if he got bad grades”.

Vladimir Putin said: “the new generation... needs to be raised with good artistic taste and the ability to understand and value the theatrical, dramatic and musical arts”.

Putin also said: “And if this was done as it should be in our country, maybe there would not be tragedies like the tragedy in Moscow today.”

Irina Yarovaya said: “propaganda of aggression”

Irina Yarovaya said: “infinitesimal”.

Alexei Pushkov said in a tweet: “Moscow school shooting: American movies and domestic serials, full of violence, are producing results - now it is like the USA here,”

Alexei Pushkov also said: “Is this what we wanted?”