MOSCOW, March 22. /TASS/. Unidentified gunmen went on a shooting spree at the Crocus City Hall music venue in the town of Krasnogorsk in the Moscow Region before a concert by the rock band Picnic. Later an explosion rocked the building, starting a fire.
Eyewitnesses said that there were dead and injured people.
TASS has compiled the main information about the incident so far.
Circumstances of the incident
- A group of unidentified gunmen armed with assault rifles went on a shooting spree in the lobby and then inside the concert hall just before a concert by the rock band Picnic, eyewitnesses told TASS. According to them, there are dead and injured people.
- Musicians of the band Picnic were not harmed during the shooting, its director Yury Chernyshevsky told TASS.
- An explosion occurred in the building starting a fire. The Emergencies Ministry’s department for the Moscow Region said that about one third of the Crocus City Hall building was engulfed in fire, with thick black smoke rising.
- The building’s rooftop is almost entirely engulfed in fire and has partially collapsed. The smell of smoke has spread to nearby neighborhoods.
- A TASS correspondent reported that there are still people inside the building, some can be seen in the windows.
Rescue efforts
- Special law enforcement agencies are taking all necessary measures following the incident, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Public Relations Center said.
- The SOBR and OMON special police units of the Russian National Guard have been dispatched to the Crocus City Hall. As TASS reported, they have already arrived at the scene.
- More than 30 regional ambulance crews and more than 20 Moscow ambulance crews have been sent to the Crocus City Hall, the Moscow Region’s health ministry said.
- Firefighters have evacuated about 100 people from the basement of the burning building, and are now rescuing people from the rooftop.
Response from authorities
- Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobyov said that he was on his way to the scene. A crisis center has been set up, he added.
- Myakinino subway station, which is next to the concert hall, is operating as usual, Moscow’s transport department said.
- Traffic on the Moscow Ring Road in front of the Crocus City Hall is restricted along both lanes, the transport department wrote on its Telegram channel.
- Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that he had ordered that help be provided to all victims of the tragedy.
- The entire world community needs to condemn this horrendous crime committed at the Crocus City Hall, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.