Teacher and policeman killed in Moscow school siege days before winter games

 
Tears: a student is led away after the shooting at the school near Moscow
Will Stewart3 February 2014

Russia faced a major security scare today more than 20 teenage pupils were held hostage by a “gunman” at a school near Moscow.

A female teacher and a policeman died in the shooting which came four days before the Winter Olympics opens in Sochi.

The armed male released the pupils aged around 15 but continued to hold one or more teachers before being “neutralised” by police.

The dead policeman was named as senior sergeant Sergey Busyuev.

Initial reports said the gunman was the father of one of the children held hostage but later it was claimed he was a pupil from the school.

His motive was not known.

The incident comes as Russian is on high alert for terrorists seeking to disrupt the Olympics.

Public buildings including schools are seen as especially vulnerable and the incident came less than 24 hours after the authorities warned of a tightening of security at schools.

The armed male broke into a class in school number 263 in Odratnoe, near Moscow, shooting an armed policeman who was guarding the main entrance.

Pupils in a year 11 Biology class were held by the gunman.

The conditions in which the gunman held the pupils - understood to be boys and girls - and teachers was not immediately known.

The rest of the school was evacuated after an emergency warning alert notified the police.

The gunman had made no demands.

Worried parents were gathering as close to the school as police allowed.

An Emergencies’ Ministry helicopter was seen close to the school along with five ambulances.

The fear of terrorist incidents at school is deeply ingrained in the Russian psyche after the horrific Beslan School Siege in September 2004, which ended in bloodshed with the deaths of 380 people.

It lasted three days and involved the capture of more than 1,100 people as hostages including 777 children.

The security operation for the Olympics is the biggest in the Games’ history.

Because of the scale of security in Sochi, fears have been expressed about attacks elsewhere across the country’s nine time zones.

The hostage-taker was later named as Gergey Gordeev, a year 11 student at the school which is on the northern outskirts of Moscow.

“He has been neutralised,” Russian interior ministry spokesman Andrei Pilipchuk told Vesti 24 television.

A later report said the hostage-taker was detained.

All the pupils were said to have been freed without suffering physical harm.

Live footage from the scene during the incident showed a group of children running from the school and an emergencies ministry helicopter hovering overhead.

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