Gîsca school bombing

Gîsca school bombing
A memorial for the victims of the bombing, pictured some time in 2007
Location46°46′44″N 29°25′30″E / 46.77889°N 29.42500°E / 46.77889; 29.42500
Gîsca, Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union (now Moldova)
Date4 April 1950 (1950-04-04)
TargetNatalya Dmitrievna Donicha, a teacher at school N°20 in Gîsca
Attack type
WeaponsImprovised explosive device
Deaths24 (including the perpetrator)
InjuredUnknown
PerpetratorVladimir Georgievich Tatarnikov
MotiveUnrequited love

On 4 April 1950, 29-year-old Vladimir Georgievich Tatarnikov arrived at School No. 20 in the village of Gîsca, in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (now Moldova), carrying a suitcase filled with 12 kilograms (26 pounds) of explosives, which he had stolen from his place of work at DOSARM. He then detonated the suitcase, killing twenty-one students, two teachers, and himself.

This event was the first school massacre in the Soviet Union and remains the only school massacre in Moldova.