Smoke rises above the burning Crocus City Hall concert venue following a reported shooting incident, outside Moscow, Russia, March 22, 2024. (Credit: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)
MOSCOW — Gunmen opened fire at a rock concert in a Moscow suburb Friday leaving dead and wounded before a major fire spread through the theatre, Moscow's mayor and Russian news agencies reported.
Here's what is known about the shooting so far:
Security services quoted by Interfax news agency, said between two and five people "wearing tactical uniforms and carrying automatic weapons" opened fire on guards at the entrance of the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk near Moscow and then started shooting at the audience during a concert of the band "Piknik."
As of 7:00 p.m. GMT (9:00 p.m. Beirut time), 40 people have been reported killed and more than 100 wounded, according to a Reuters report citing TASS. Authorities had not yet released an official death toll.
Preliminary information suggested machine guns were used in the shooting. Videos circulating on social media show gunmen using automatic weapons. Spetznaz and riot police units were sent to respond to the incident, the TASS news agency reported, citing an anonymous law enforcement source.
Eyewitnesses told Russian agencies there were many injured and dead. The Moscow Times quoted a correspondent reporting from outside the concert hall saying "People in camouflage broke into the stalls of Crocus City Hall, at least three of them opened fire with automatic weapons. There are definitely wounded."
According to the reporter, a grenade or an incendiary bomb was thrown after the shooting broke out, causing a fire inside the hall. Video posted online by Russian news agencies showed billowing clouds of smoke and flames rising from the venue building. Fire quickly spread through the concert hall, which can hold several thousand people and has hosted top international artists.
"The people in the hall were lying down on the floor to escape from the shooting, lying between 15 and 20 minutes, after which they began to crawl out. Many managed to get out," the reporter said.
About 100 people escaped through the theatre basement while others were sheltering on the the roof, the emergency services ministry said on its Telegram channel.
TASS reported that people remain inside the building, which is almost completely engulfed in flames and that others were trapped on the roof.
Special units of Russia's national guard as well as police and firefighters are on the scene, TASS said, and the regional governor said more than 70 ambulances were at the scene. Moscow's Vnukovo airport has announced it is tightening security measures.
The White House said it had no initial indication that Ukraine, which is fighting an invasion by Russia, was involved in the attack, AFP reported. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the United States was still gathering information, but that there was "no indication at this time that Ukraine, or Ukrainians, were involved in the shooting," Kirby told reporters. "I would disabuse you at this early hour of any connection to Ukraine."
US diplomatic chief Antony Blinken on Saturday condemned a "heinous" act and "terrorism in all its forms," in the wake of the attack in Moscow that left at least 133 people dead.
"We condemn terrorism in all its forms and express our solidarity with the Russian people as they mourn the loss of life after this atrocious event," Blinken said in a statement issued by the State Department.
Warnings of an attack, two weeks ago
Two weeks ago, Reuters reported that the US embassy in Russia had warned of "extremists" with imminent plans for an attack in Moscow, hours after Russian security services said they had foiled a planned shooting at a synagogue by a cell from the Afghan arm of Islamic State.
The embassy, which has repeatedly urged all US citizens to leave Russia immediately, gave no further details about the nature of the threat, but said people should avoid concerts and crowds and be aware of their surroundings.
"The Embassy is monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and US citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours," the embassy had written on its website.
It issued its warning several hours after Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said it had foiled an attack on a synagogue in Moscow by a cell of the militant Sunni Muslim group Islamic State.
Previous attacks
In 2002, Chechen separatist fighters took 912 people hostage in a Moscow theatre, the Dobrovka, demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from the region, as AFP recalls in a report on Friday's shooting.
Special forces attacked the theatre to end the hostage taking and 130 people were killed, nearly all suffocated by a gas used by security forces to knock out the gunmen.
Russia launched a military intervention in Ukraine in February 2022 and it has been the target of attacks along the border by anti-Kremlin forces.