Russian Telegram-based outlet claims to have found voice message from Blagoveshchensk school shooter

Baza, a Russian investigative outlet based on the social app Telegram, has published what it describes as an audio message recorded by the construction and housing student who shot four of his classmates and himself on the morning of November 14. The authenticity of the message has not been confirmed, and Baza is known for publishing inside information quickly but without standard accuracy checks.

In the recording and the accompanying transcript published on Baza, the speaker says an unspecified group of “those people” should have been responsible for stopping past school shootings, including the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, as well as present shootings like his own. However, he also frames his actions as inevitable, saying, “None of the people they’re going to blame on TV when this happens could have stopped it. [...] Of course, it hurts — why does it have to be me, why here, why now?”

The shooter was reportedly a 19-year-old student named Daniil Zasorin.