Three separate bloodbaths at Russian schools recently are all linked by the alleged teenage attackers ‘worshipping’ the perpetrators of the Columbine massacre in the U.S. 18 years ago.
In the latest outrage on Friday, axe-wielding masked suspect Anton Bichivin, 16, wore a T-shirt linked to German band KMFDM as did sinister Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.
The shirt was visible as the blood-drenched Russian was detained in the snow by military police, and in an ambulance as he was rushed to hospital.
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Columbine attacker Eric Harris (left) and Dylan Klebold (right) both wore KMFDM T-shirts
Anton Bichivin at the time of his arrest by police officers – he too was allegedly wearing a T-shirt linked to German band KMFDM
Both Anton Bichivin (left) and Lev Bidzhakov (right) carried out horrific attacks and both are believed to have been unduly interested in the Columbine massacre
Lev Bidzhakov, 17, (left, in a social media and, right, being detained) allegedly praised the Columbine massacre on his social media account
Lev Bidzhakov (pictured) is also believed to have had fascist sympathies
Four months ago student Mikhail Pivnev, then 15, threw smoke bombs and struck a teacher with an axe at a school near Moscow – he too was an admirer of the Columbine shooters and had Nazi sympathies
Columbine attackers Harris and Klebold (above) murdered 12 pupils and one teacher, injuring 24 more
Teacher Irina Ramenskaya was hit in the head with an axe, but was able to give an account of the attack to journalists
The axe allegedly used by Anton Bichivin to hack pupils as they fled their burning classroom was recovered by police
Bichivin is under investigation for attempted murder for firebombing a Russian literature class, then cracking open the heads of two pupils and a teacher – and injuring five others – as they tried to flee a high school in the Siberian region of Buryatia.
He and accomplice Alexander Rogalsky, 16, are believed to hold Nazi sympathies and gave themselves fascist names before staging the attack, law enforcement officers have revealed.
In an earlier horrific attack on Monday this week, nine pupils and ‘hero’ teacher Natalia Shagulina suffered knife wounds when two teenagers went on the rampage in a classroom in the Urals city of Perm.
Suspects Lev Bidzhakov and Alexander Buslidze – also 16 – intended a murder spree based on the Columbine High School massacre in in 1999, Russian law enforcement officers believe.
It was reported that Bidzhakov had material on his social media accounts linked to the U.S. attack in which two senior students, Harris and Klebold, murdered 12 pupils and one teacher, injuring 24 more.
Four months ago a student Mikhail Pivnev, then 15, threw smoke bombs and struck teacher Lyubov Kalmykova, 39, with an axe at a school near Moscow.
He too was an admirer of the Columbine shooters and had Nazi sympathies, law enforcement officers say.
Detectives are examining whether there are any firmer connections between the incidents amid fears of further classroom attacks, it was reported.
Teacher Natalia Shagulia (pictured) was badly wounded as she fought off the knife attackers to defend her young students at the school
The two children and their teacher are fighting for their lives and are in a ‘grave condition’ after the Friday attack.
Classmates Alexandra Bortsova and Maya Bazhenova, both 13, had their skulls cracked open by the axe attack, reported the Russian media citing law enforcement sources said.
In all, five pupils and two teachers were wounded in the carnage.
Alexandra was reported to be in a coma and her relatives made a plea for blood to save her. She is due to undergo surgery on Saturday.
A classmate called Liza said: ‘We were in a literature lesson.
‘Suddenly some boy came in and threw a burning substance against the wall.
‘It caught fire.
‘We ran out of the classroom, and the attackers started to chop up one of the girls, Maya Bazhenova.’
One of Maya’s fingers was severed by the axe-wielding student.
Another finger was badly crushed and she suffered a shoulder injury when she was struck.
Teacher Irina Ramenskaya, 41, is also being treated for an open head wound after being struck by the axe.
Anton Bichivin was said to be a fan of violent video games and had images such as this one on his social media profiles
She told journalists: ‘I got a blow into my head, but I didn’t even feel the impact.
‘There was smoke and I started to take out the children.
‘But when I went out by myself, I saw this figure just chopping the kids with an axe.
‘I began to bring them back into the classroom, but everything was burning there.’
Anton Kulikov, 13, was wounded in the neck and spine while his female classmate Konstantsia Yatsunenko, 13, received a blow to her shoulder blade.
Boys Konstantsia Yatsunenko, 13, and Vladislav Danilov, 12, were both badly wounded in the school outrage.
Another teacher Irina Zbritskaya, 44, is surviving from severe psychological trauma after the attack.
The teenage ringleader of the attack then smashed windows in the room, stabbed himself in the chest and jumped from a second floor window.
He was detained by armed military police after falling on the snow below.
One pupil, called Kristina, said of the suspect and his friends: ‘They did not take drugs. They were into Nazism.’
Before the attack they renamed themselves on social media using names of obscure Russian fascists.
Bichivin’s stepbrother said: ‘He is fond of computer games – GTA, Call of Duty, and Painkiller.
‘When something goes not according to his wish he becomes nervous, shouts, freaks out.’
Another witness said she saw a boy ‘hit with an axe on the back of his neck.
‘A girl was axed in the neck and then another student had one or two fingers severed’.
She saw teacher Irina Zbritskaya give a wounded pupil her fur coat in the aftermath of the carnage as victims fled outside into the-24C cold.
Moments later she collapsed.
THE SCHOOL MASSACRE THAT SHOCKED THE WORLD
It was a massacre that shocked the world and sparked a nationwide debate on gun control in the US.
On April 20, 1999 students Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, walked in to Columbine High School in Colorado before opening fire and slaughtering 13 people .
In a meticulously planned attack, they used a firebomb as a diversion and stacks of explosives laid around the high school.
The pair shot and killed 12 students and one teacher in the attack. Chilling CCTV footage showed the heavily armed killers walking around the school’s cafeteria during the mass killing.
On April 20, 1999 students Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold (pictured), 17, walked in to Columbine High School in Colorado before opening fire and slaughtering 13 people
Harris (pictured) and Klebold shot and killed 12 students and one teacher in the attack and chilling CCTV footage showed the heavily armed killers walking from room to room
They injured 21 others while three more were hurt while attempting to escape the school. The pair subsequently killed themselves before they could be caught.
While the motivation behind the attack is still not fully understood, a reading of their journals showed they wished their actions to rival the notoriety of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.
The ease in which they acquired their weapons went on to form the basis of the Bowling for Columbine documentary, that reignited the US gun control policy debate.
Dylan Klebold (right) and Eric Harris are shown in the Columbine High School cafeteria on the day they killed twelve students and one teacher before killing themselves
At the time, it was the worst school shooting in the country’s history before 2007, when 23-year-old Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho went on a shooting rampage on the Blacksburg college campus, killing 32 people.
Five years later, 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed 20 students and six teaching staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.