As Moscow music fans gathered for a concert by the popular Russian band Picnic at the 6,000-seater Crocus City Mall concert hall, sometime after 8:00 p.m. local time up to five bearded men wearing paramilitary clothing, carrying what appeared to be assault rifles and back packs entered the lobby to the hall.
Multiple videos were soon being posted on Russian mainstream media and Telegram channels that showed the men moving through the lobby area, constantly firing, changing magazines, reloading, and continuing to shoot anyone they saw at point-blank range. They then made their way into the concert hall entrance, shortly after which at least two explosions were heard.
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It took some time for those sitting in the auditorium to realize what was happening as the gunman began to open fire on audience members in the lower floor of the theater. Other video footage, which Kyiv Post has not yet been able to verify showed what looked like bodies lying motionless in pools of blood in the lobby and in the entrance to the hall.
More video footage from CCTV cameras and other sources outside of the mall showed the building was ablaze, with flames leaping into the sky, and plumes of black smoke rising above the venue.
Initial reports indicated that there were many casualties with estimates ranging from 15 to 40 killed and up to 100 wounded, and an unknown number still trapped in the building.
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Later reports said that up to 50 ambulances had been dispatched to the scene and, after a delay of almost an hour from the start of the attack, bystanders reported that police, and what appeared to be National Guard Special Forces arriving at the concert hall, which was confirmed by reports in TASS and video on social media.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that “A terrible tragedy had occurred in the Crocus City shopping center today. I am sorry for the loved ones of the victims.”
Sobyanin said all necessary assistance would be provided to those injured during the incident.
Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the Moscow region, said he was heading to the area and set up a task force to deal with the damage without offering any further details.
The attack occurred two weeks after a number of Western embassies in Moscow warned of an imminent terrorist attack, which President Vladimir Putin dismissed as an attempt by the US and others to intimidate Russians earlier this week.
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