The Crocus City Hall music venue near Moscow was thrown into chaos when armed individuals clad in camouflage clothing unleashed automatic gunfire into the crowd. Videos from the scene reveal a grim picture of death and injury, though the exact numbers remained unclear at the moment. Russian news agencies reported the dispatch of 50 ambulance crews to the location.
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Videos depict the venue engulfed in flames, with towering plumes of black smoke piercing the sky. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed the disturbing incident, expressing his condolences for the victims' families and assuring the provision of necessary aid to the injured.
Concert hall in flames
As confirmed by Russian state news agencies, police and emergency services have reached the scene. However, some individuals were reportedly still trapped inside the concert hall.
Reports indicate the perpetrators used explosives to enter the venue in what seems to be a premeditated carnage.
Unverified footage circulating on social media showed armed men incessantly firing at terrified civilians, including women, who took cover beneath what appeared to be the entrance sign to the "Crocus City Hall." Other videos captured people lying motionless in pools of blood outside the venue, although these footages are yet to be verified by Reuters. Additional footage demonstrated the assailants firing upon concert-goers.
Moscow City Hall has canceled all cultural events in the city for the weekend, and Russian FSB have said an investigation has been launched.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Embassy in Russia had issued a warning about a potential extremist attack in Moscow. This alert was broadcasted just hours after Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor to the Soviet-era KGB, announced that they had thwarted an Islamic State cell's planned assault on a Moscow synagogue.