College shooter sentenced for life in Russia

Timur Bekmansurov, the man who started a shooting in the building of the Perm University last year, has been sentenced for life by court, 59.ru reports.

Maxim Filippov, the prosecutor, requested a life term for Bekmansurov during a court session on 28 November due to him “posing an exceptional menace to society”.

The shooting happened in September 2021. Bekmansurov, a freshman with the law department, entered the campus of the Perm State University, murdered six people and wounded forty-seven using a Huglu rifle with a 12/76 calibre which he legally purchased. A member of the local security staff failed to hit the emergency button and fell one of the first victims to the shooter.

Bekmansurov was eventually detained by Konstantin Kalinin, a junior lieutenant with the traffic police who used a service pistol to neutralise the shooter. The latter regained consciousness in hospital four days later.

He was charged with murdering two or more people and pleaded guilty. A forensic examination declared him sane in January 2022, despite Bekmansurov’s claims to be mentally ill.