It was a school shooting and bombing attack perpetrated by an 18-year-old student named Vladislav Roslyakov, who killed 20 people and wounded 67 others before committing suicide.

[2][3][4] He entered the building of Kerch Polytechnic College on 17 October 2018 at about 10:02 a.m.[5][6] A survivor of the incident said that the shooting lasted for more than 15 minutes.

[7] Multiple witnesses recounted an individual gunman strolling through the corridors of Kerch Polytechnic College, discharging shots indiscriminately at classmates and teachers.

[10] However, there was initially variation in survivors' accounts of the incident, with some claiming that a large bomb exploded and others describing only gunfire and the use of grenades.

Graphic video footage of the attack was captured by school surveillance cameras and later posted on both the news programme Vesti.Krym's YouTube channel and on its website.

[19][20] The Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova told reporters that a total of 67 people were wounded, 10 of whom were described as being in a "critical" condition, including five in comas.

[37] In the days before the attack, he discussed ignorance by others, the lack of purpose in his life, mass shootings, and suicide on social media.

[38] Surveillance footage of the incident shows Roslyakov wearing black trousers and a white T-shirt emblazoned with the Russian word "НЕНАВИСТЬ" ("HATRED") as he carries an eight-shot 12-gauge Hatsan Escort Aimguard pump-action shotgun with a pistol grip.

[46] Crimean Prime Minister Sergey Aksyonov stated on 18 October that the perpetrator might have had an accomplice, and police were searching for the individual "who was coaching" Roslyakov for the crime.

"[49] On 28 May 2019, a 15-year-old student named Daniil Pulkin, obsessed with Roslyakov, committed an attack with an axe and Molotov cocktails in Volsk, Saratov Region, Russia, which left a girl seriously wounded.

"[55] Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi that the attack appeared to be the result of globalisation, social media, and the Internet, and that "everything started with the tragic events in schools in the US ... we're not creating healthy (Internet) content for young people ... which leads to tragedies of this kind.

"[9][56][41][55] Some saw the remarks as Russians blaming the West for the attack and a linkage with his past as head of the Kremlin and FSB before becoming president, which The Irish Times said are "suspicious of the internet and social media, seeing them as Western-dominated technologies that can be used to stir up dissent and street protests.

"[55][42][54] Leaders of several countries expressed their condolences to the victims of the attack, including Armenia,[57] Estonia, Finland, Germany,[58] Italy, Thailand, the UK,[59] and Venezuela.

[60][nb 1] The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, also expressed condolences.

[65] An open memorial and funeral for the victims were held in the central square of Kerch, with a speech by Sergey Aksyonov, who told the crowd, "We don't want to talk, we want to weep.