Kamyshin school shooting

The 1997 Kamyshin military school shooting was a mass shooting that occurred in the early morning of 9 March 1997 at the Kamyshin Higher Military Construction School in Kamyshin, Volgograd Oblast, Russia. An 18-year-old first-year cadet, Sergei Lepnev, opened fire on his fellow cadets and the officer on duty during a routine guard change, killing six people and seriously injuring two others before fleeing the scene. Police arrested Lepnev later that day along with an accomplice after a manhunt. The motive for the attack was unclear.^[2][1]

In the early hours of 9 March 1997, shortly after 4:00 a.m., Lepnev entered the guard room following the changing of the watch and opened fire with an automatic rifle. He first shot and killed the captain in charge of the guard detachment, then turned the weapon on fellow cadets present at the scene. Six people died from gunshot wounds at the boarding facility, and two others were seriously injured. After the shooting, Lepnev and a fellow cadet fled the military school with two assault rifles and ammunition. They were located and arrested by police later that afternoon in a residential area of Kamyshin.^[2][1]

The shooter was identified as Sergei Lepnev, an 18-year-old first-year cadet at the military construction school. After the shooting, Lepnev and another cadet—not reported to have fired shots—escaped the school grounds but were apprehended the same day by local police after a concentrated search. Authorities did not publicly confirm a clear motive for the attack at the time, and news reports cited no definitive explanation for Lepnev's actions.^[2][1]