March 23, 2024 Shooting at Moscow concert venue leaves over 130 dead

Russian President Vladimir Putin called statements made by the US embassy earlier this week about potential terror attacks in Moscow “provocative.”

In a speech on Tuesday, Putin said in a speech to the FSB, “All these actions resemble outright blackmail and the intention to intimidate and destabilize our society. You are well aware of them, so I will not go into details at this point.”

The US Embassy said on March 7th that Americans should “avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours” and “that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow.”

On Friday evening, the Crocus City Hall on the outskirts of the Russian capital became the scene of a terror incident where at least 40 people had been killed and 100 wounded, according to Russian state media.

Ukraine "certainly has nothing to do with the shooting/explosions," in the Crocus City Hall in Moscow Region, Russia, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in a post on X on Friday.  

According to the Kremlin, within the first minutes of what happened at Crocus City Hall, Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed that the shooting had begun.

An unnamed male witness who survived the attack at the Crocus City Hall Friday said he saw the gunmen enter the concert hall where they "started shooting everyone."

The man says that "in the end," the attackers threw a Molotov cocktail, and "everything was set on fire."

"We were led to the exit. Turned out, the exit was locked. We ran all over Crocus City, trying to find an exit, but to no avail. We went into the basement of the Crocus City Hall and waited for the Emergency Services (MChS) and got out," he said.

Another witness, Nikolai, who did not provide a last name, told Reuters, "I've seen wounded, I've seen people lying down when the shooting happened. (PERSON ASKING: Can you approximately count how many people were wounded?) I can not. More than a dozen."

And another witness, Andrei, who also did not give a last name, told Reuters, "We've been at the furthest corner, it all was far away. We've only seen crowd, but there was no panic, everyone walked calmly. Some sat down as they walked out, but there was not panic."

The suspects who attacked Crocus City Hall burst into the concert hall and began shooting people point-blank, reports a Russian state media RIA Novosti correspondent from the scene who witnessed the incident.

According to him, a few minutes before 20:00 Moscow time before the start of the concert, at least three men in camouflage and without masks burst into the hall through the stalls.

They shot people point-blank and threw incendiary bombs, he reported.

Those who managed to get out of the hall were pointed to the emergency exits by the complex's security and the guards remained in place, the RIA Novosti reporter said.

The band, Picnic that was due to perform at the Crocus City Hall was not harmed during the shooting incident, law enforcement agencies tell Russian state media TASS.

Band manager Yuri Chernyshevsky also confirmed this information.

"I can confirm that the musicians are unharmed," he said, according to TASS.

At least 40 people were killed, and more than 100 were injured, according to preliminary information from the FSB, Russian state media TASS reports.

Meanwhile, Russia 24 says the roof of the Crocus City Hall building is partially collapsed.

The Main Investigative Committee of Russia has opened a criminal case regarding a terrorist attack in the Moscow region.

Based on the incident in the Crocus City Hall concert hall, the Main Investigation Department of the Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on the grounds of a crime under Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (terrorist act).

An investigative team from the central office of the Russian Investigative Committee went to the scene of the incident.

Russian state media TASS reports that two helicopters are at the scene discharging water to try to put out at the fire at Crocus City Hall.

Four armed individuals are seen in new video, which appears to show a mass shooting at a shopping center in Moscow. 

CNN has geolocated the video, which first began to circulate on social media on Friday evening. 

In the video, the four individuals can be seen, several carrying long rifles, opening fire at civilians in the shopping center just outside of the Crocus City Hall concert venue.

The civilians in the video were huddled up against the wall as the armed individuals began firing dozens of shots at them. A number of people can be seen falling to the ground. 

During the shooting, one of the armed individuals is seen shooting out one of the glass doors at the concert venue and moving inside. 

Additional video geolocated by CNN shows individuals wearing similar clothing firing inside the concert venue building. Gunfire can also be heard in video taken inside the concert hall.