Near Moscow, shooting and fire in a concert hall, several victims announced

A shooting followed by a fire occurred on the evening of Friday March 22 in a concert hall in the suburbs of Moscow, Russian news agencies and Telegram channels reported, with several of them reporting deaths and injuries

Near Moscow, shooting and fire in a concert hall, several victims announced

A shooting followed by a fire occurred on the evening of Friday March 22 in a concert hall in the suburbs of Moscow, Russian news agencies and Telegram channels reported, with several of them reporting deaths and injuries. wounded.

The facts, the exact nature of which remains to be clarified, took place at Crocus City Hall, a concert hall located in the northwest of the Russian capital. “Unknown persons opened fire at Crocus City Hall. The evacuation of people is underway,” emergency services told the state agency TASS. The RIA Novosti agency reported “wounded” after “automatic weapon fire”, quoting its journalist on site.

According to the VTchK-OGPU site, generally well informed by the security services, the attackers could have been between three and ten. The reports given by news sites suggest between twelve and fifteen deaths and several dozen injured. The building was on fire at 9 p.m. (7 p.m. Paris). According to the Baza website, also connected to the security services, around a hundred spectators are trapped inside. The authorities have not yet communicated about the events.

A series of videos broadcast on Russian Telegram channels show at least three attackers enter the shopping center and open fire, leaving several victims behind. Other videos show spectators in the performance hall taking shelter before the Piknik group concert. The building is on fire.

The Crocus City Hall is a huge exhibition center, inside which is notably located the concert hall where the Piknik music group, a veteran of the Russian rock scene, performed on Friday evening. The center is located just outside the administrative boundaries of Moscow, heading northwest, in the city of Krasnogorsk.