2014 Moscow school shooting

2014 Moscow school shooting
School No. 263, the site of the shooting, on 4 February
Location55°51′25″N 37°36′51″E / 55.85694°N 37.61417°E / 55.85694; 37.61417
School No. 263 in Otradnoye District, Moscow, Russia
Date3 February 2014 (2014-02-03)
11:40 a.m. – 1:05 p.m. (UTC+03:00)
Attack type
Mass shooting, hostage taking
WeaponBrowning 22 Semi-Auto rifle
Deaths2
Injured1
PerpetratorSergey Gordeyev
Motive

On 3 February 2014, a school shooting occurred at School No. 263 in the Otradnoye District of Moscow, Russia. 15-year-old pupil Sergey Gordeyev, armed with a rifle, killed his geography teacher and held his classmates as hostages, before opening fire on first responders who arrived at the scene, killing a policeman and severely wounding a patrolman. In the following negotiations led by the perpetrator's father, the teenager released the hostages and was detained.

In September 2014, when the trial for the shooting case began in the Moscow's Butyrsky District Court, Gordeyev's defence team asserted that he was insane, and the state prosecution concurred. On March 3, 2015, the court sent Gordeyev to compulsory psychiatric treatment.

Despite the opposition from the victims' defence, the Moscow City Court declared in August 2015 that the decision was lawful. In November 2015, the Presidium of the Moscow City Court referred the matter to the Moscow District Military Court for reconsideration, and Gordeyev was again ruled insane on February 8, 2016.

The incident, which was the third fatal school shooting to occur in modern Russia, received wide resonance in Russian society and sparked debate regarding security systems in educational institutions, as well as the negative impact of films, television shows and video games containing scenes of violence.