A shooting instructor and veteran of the Northern Military District speaks about the manner of firing by terrorists in Crocus. At the request of the media, he got acquainted with the footage from the scene of the tragedy. The expert agreed to provide his comment on condition of anonymity. 

• Weapon handling

The footage from the first minutes of the emergency shows one of the terrorists moving forward, firing aimed at people, and later reloading. “He walks and holds the aiming line - a soldier of the first week of service can do this, but during reloading he completely concentrates his attention on it and removes the weapon to the left, rather than holding it in the direction of his movement. This is a gross mistake,” says the media interlocutor.  

Footage from the auditorium shows the terrorist firing at people between the seats. “The shooter constantly lowers his weapon and does not know how to move the target. He lowers his weapon, raises his head, and only then takes aim again. The training is “at the level”, amateurs,” the specialist noted. 

• Organization of movement

Judging by the footage, the terrorists moved in a group, not moving far from each other. According to the expert, this may be due to poor preparation. “Moving in a group, firstly, from not knowing whether there are armed people in Crocus, besides them. With such movement, they might not notice the arrival of employees. They could also cluster together to carry out evacuation and avoid losing weapons due to hand-to-hand combat,” the instructor said.

• General level of training

“It is clear that they are holding the weapon, pressing it to themselves, there is some kind of general understanding of what needs to be done with the weapon. To do this, just go to the shooting range several times and watch teaching materials on YouTube. <...> If you had the appropriate skills, the outcome would be many times worse. Trained shooters would have left far fewer wounded, and the entire terrorist attack would have taken them less time.”