At least 15 people died and many more were injured in his rampage, most of them kids

I n a Russian school on Monday, a neo-Nazi gunman killed at least 15 people, 11 of them children, while wearing a swastika shirt and honoring the despicable Columbine school killers.

Artem Kazantsev, 34, shot himself himself in a classroom at School No. 88 in Izhevsk after injuring at least 24 other people, all but two of them were children.

The mass murderer, who was formerly a student at the school, was depicted laying in a pool of blood while wearing all-black clothing and having a red swastika written in a circle on his shirt during the attack on Rosh Hashanah.

He was clearly motivated by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who killed 13 people during a 1999 attack on Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, as evidenced by the braided keychains on the weapons discovered with him.

As seen in photographs provided by the ASTRA news agency, one had the word "Columbine" written in English, while the other had "Eric" and "Dylan."

The word "hate" was inscribed in red on multiple revolver magazines that he looked to be carrying, the site reported.

Two security officers and two teachers were among the victims, according to investigators, who also stated that the attacker "committed suicide."

The age of the fatalities was not immediately known, but the school enrolls students in grades 1 through 11.

Kazantsev had been listed as a patient at a mental health hospital, according to Alexander Brechalov, the governor of Udmurtia.

Investigators said that the shooter had no identification on him and was donning a black top with Nazi emblems and a balaclava.

It was "a terrorist attack by a person who evidently belongs to a neo-fascist organization or group," according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Mikhail Kazantsev, one of the gunman's uncles, also disclosed to ASTRA that the murderer "was mentally sick, he was being treated." But he made no more explanation.

The shooting occurred just hours after a Siberian enlistment center recruiter was wounded and left fighting for his life.

In Kazan, Russia, in May 2021, a young gunman killed two adults and seven children. A gunman attacked a kindergarten in the center of Ulyanovsk in April 2022, killing two children and a teacher before turning the gun on himself.

In recent years, there have been multiple school shootings in Russia this year, but not nearly as much as in the US.

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