13 killed in Azeri oil academy shooting
12 people were killed
and 13 others wounded in an armed assault at the Azerbaijan State
Oil Academy in the center of Baku on Thursday morning committed by
an unknown gunman.
After entering the building at 9.30 a.m., the assailant fired upon everyone he encountered on his way from the first to the sixth floors from a Makarov pistol, the Prosecutor-General’s Office and the Interior Ministry said in a joint statement.
Special police squads were pulled to the site immediately after the incident. Having seen that he would be inevitably neutralized by the law enforcers, the criminal shot himself.
An identification document of Farda Gadirov, a resident of Georgia’s Marneuli region born in 1980, three specially-prepared cartridge belts containing 71 bullets and two gun holsters were found on the criminal.
Among the killed are the university’s vice-rector, numerous students and faculty members. Three of the wounded are foreign citizens – two Sudanese nationals and a Syrian.
The Prosecutor-General’s Office has launched a criminal case on charges of killing scores of people with the purpose of hooliganism and illegal possession of firearms. A group of investigators has been set up to ascertain the reasons underlying the crime and work to establish the contacts of the killer. President Ilham Aliyev has taken the probe under supervision.
Commenting on circulating rumors that the mass killings could have been a terror act, Eldar Sultanov, the spokesman for the Prosecutor-General’s Office, told Radio Liberty: "We have started a criminal case on these charges for the time being. However, the terrorism charge may be added in the course of the investigation."
Eyewitnesses said the attacker was a man of low height. He pointed his gun at the head of everyone he confronted inside the building and fired, and, if the victims were still alive, he shot them again. He did not care whom he was shooting upon – teachers, students or Academy employees.
The motive of the crimes and preliminary conclusions have not been established yet.
Ali Hasanov, the head of the President’s Office socio-political department, said the incident was not aimed at disrupting socio-political stability in Azerbaijan, and adding additional coloring to it would be wrong.
"I don’t think this was a purposeful or premeditated act aimed at violating stability. Such developments take place in many places [countries]," he said.
Vidadi Hasanov, executive official of the Marneuli region, said in a phone interview with the Baku-based ANS TV channel that the assailant was born to a teacher’s family in Marneuli’s Dashtepe village and his father taught Azerbaijani language classes at a local school. Gadirov, who lived in Russia with his parents for 15 years, had come to a native village a month ago.
"He was a reserved person and never bonded with anyone. He behaved normally, and no one noticed him to have any extreme nervousness."
President Aliyev has expressed his condolences to the families of the shooting victims. He said he was enormously troubled by the tragedy, wishing everyone patience and self-restraint.
"You can be sure that the Azerbaijani state will carry out all the necessary measures in connection with this incident," the president pledged.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has also expressed condolences to his counterpart and the Azerbaijani people over the shooting. Medvedev said he was shocked by the news about the loss of numerous lives, saying he was particularly saddened by the fact that most of those killed were young people.
"I extend my condolences to you and the loved ones of those killed in this incident and wish the wounded to recover soon," he said.
Musavat, a major Azerbaijani opposition party, has issued a statement calling the crime terror and demanding that the government swiftly provide accurate information to the public about the reasons of the incident, hunt down and punish all culprits involved.
Some experts have claimed official reports on the matter are incomplete and, in many cases, contradictory. Sulhaddin Akbar, a former deputy national security minister, claimed it would be wrong to presume that the incident was mere hooliganism.
"It is indicative that the criminal made well-aimed shots. The victims were mainly shot in the head. Another detail that particularly attracts attention is that the weapon had been specially prepared. Such preparations would not have been made for the purpose of hooliganism."
Akbar also said that the ID found on the criminal could be forged. He added that, in order to establish the motive of the crime, both the identity and the previous health condition of the shooter are to be thoroughly ascertained.
A number of remarkable personalities attended the Azerbaijan State Oil Academy, which was previously called the Institute of Oil and Chemistry. These include the Azerbaijani national leader, former President Heydar Aliyev, President of Russia's largest private oil company Lukoil Vagit Alekperov, Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos and chief of the Soviet secret service under the Stalin government, Lavrenti Beriya.*
After entering the building at 9.30 a.m., the assailant fired upon everyone he encountered on his way from the first to the sixth floors from a Makarov pistol, the Prosecutor-General’s Office and the Interior Ministry said in a joint statement.
Special police squads were pulled to the site immediately after the incident. Having seen that he would be inevitably neutralized by the law enforcers, the criminal shot himself.
An identification document of Farda Gadirov, a resident of Georgia’s Marneuli region born in 1980, three specially-prepared cartridge belts containing 71 bullets and two gun holsters were found on the criminal.
Among the killed are the university’s vice-rector, numerous students and faculty members. Three of the wounded are foreign citizens – two Sudanese nationals and a Syrian.
The Prosecutor-General’s Office has launched a criminal case on charges of killing scores of people with the purpose of hooliganism and illegal possession of firearms. A group of investigators has been set up to ascertain the reasons underlying the crime and work to establish the contacts of the killer. President Ilham Aliyev has taken the probe under supervision.
Commenting on circulating rumors that the mass killings could have been a terror act, Eldar Sultanov, the spokesman for the Prosecutor-General’s Office, told Radio Liberty: "We have started a criminal case on these charges for the time being. However, the terrorism charge may be added in the course of the investigation."
Eyewitnesses said the attacker was a man of low height. He pointed his gun at the head of everyone he confronted inside the building and fired, and, if the victims were still alive, he shot them again. He did not care whom he was shooting upon – teachers, students or Academy employees.
The motive of the crimes and preliminary conclusions have not been established yet.
Ali Hasanov, the head of the President’s Office socio-political department, said the incident was not aimed at disrupting socio-political stability in Azerbaijan, and adding additional coloring to it would be wrong.
"I don’t think this was a purposeful or premeditated act aimed at violating stability. Such developments take place in many places [countries]," he said.
Vidadi Hasanov, executive official of the Marneuli region, said in a phone interview with the Baku-based ANS TV channel that the assailant was born to a teacher’s family in Marneuli’s Dashtepe village and his father taught Azerbaijani language classes at a local school. Gadirov, who lived in Russia with his parents for 15 years, had come to a native village a month ago.
"He was a reserved person and never bonded with anyone. He behaved normally, and no one noticed him to have any extreme nervousness."
President Aliyev has expressed his condolences to the families of the shooting victims. He said he was enormously troubled by the tragedy, wishing everyone patience and self-restraint.
"You can be sure that the Azerbaijani state will carry out all the necessary measures in connection with this incident," the president pledged.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has also expressed condolences to his counterpart and the Azerbaijani people over the shooting. Medvedev said he was shocked by the news about the loss of numerous lives, saying he was particularly saddened by the fact that most of those killed were young people.
"I extend my condolences to you and the loved ones of those killed in this incident and wish the wounded to recover soon," he said.
Musavat, a major Azerbaijani opposition party, has issued a statement calling the crime terror and demanding that the government swiftly provide accurate information to the public about the reasons of the incident, hunt down and punish all culprits involved.
Some experts have claimed official reports on the matter are incomplete and, in many cases, contradictory. Sulhaddin Akbar, a former deputy national security minister, claimed it would be wrong to presume that the incident was mere hooliganism.
"It is indicative that the criminal made well-aimed shots. The victims were mainly shot in the head. Another detail that particularly attracts attention is that the weapon had been specially prepared. Such preparations would not have been made for the purpose of hooliganism."
Akbar also said that the ID found on the criminal could be forged. He added that, in order to establish the motive of the crime, both the identity and the previous health condition of the shooter are to be thoroughly ascertained.
A number of remarkable personalities attended the Azerbaijan State Oil Academy, which was previously called the Institute of Oil and Chemistry. These include the Azerbaijani national leader, former President Heydar Aliyev, President of Russia's largest private oil company Lukoil Vagit Alekperov, Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos and chief of the Soviet secret service under the Stalin government, Lavrenti Beriya.*
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