Locked doors, the police response, and the suspects’ past visits to the venue What we know about the Crocus City Hall attack, three days later
Three days have passed since the second-deadliest terrorist attack in modern Russian history. While there are still far more questions than answers, some details have begun to emerge about the attack’s alleged perpetrators and about how the violence unfolded. Meanwhile, rumors abound about the police response to the incident, leaving federal officials scrambling to offer explanations. Meduza lays out what we know at this point.
Emergency crews are still working to clear the debris from the site of the Crocus City Hall concert venue in Moscow that burnt down after terrorists set it on fire during the March 22 shooting and arson attack. The Telegram channel Baza reported that an additional 17 human remains were discovered among the ruins on Sunday night. According to Moscow Governor Andrey Vorobyov, about two thirds of the wreckage has been cleared. He said search operations will continue until 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday.
On Sunday, the Russian Investigative Committee reported that 137 people were confirmed to have died in the attack, though unofficial reports from Baza put the death toll at 144. The country’s Emergency Services Ministry has published a preliminary list of victims that includes 68 names. According to the Moscow Regional Health Ministry, the attack left 182 people injured. Lyudmila Boltayeva, the region’s social development minister, 97 people remain hospitalized. The Russian authorities have not released information about the number of people who are still unaccounted for.
During the terrorist attack, multiple fire escapes and a roof access door at Crocus City Hall could not be opened, Baza has reported. According to the channel, the emergency doors leading to the building’s roof were held closed by bicycle locks. Witnesses who spoke to Baza reportedly said that the venue’s automatic fire alarm system either partially or completely failed to activate, while people who were in the concert hall at the time of the attack said that they were forced to break the door to get out of the building’s basement.
Crocus City Hall reported that approximately 5,000 people were evacuated from the building during the terrorist attack and that workers from the Emergency Services Ministry saved about 100 people. Exactly how many people were in the building at the time of the attack is unknown. The venue’s auditorium contains 6,200 seats, and the area can fit up to 7,233 with the dance floor included. Piknik, the band whose concert was about to begin when the attack occurred, reported that tickets to the event had sold out.
Two of the suspects visited Crocus City Hall multiple times before the attack, according to the Telegram channel Shot. The channel said that Shamsidin Fariduni and Muhammadsobir Fayzov, two Tajikistani citizens who were charged in connection with the attack on Sunday, went to the concert hall at least five times in the two weeks leading up to the shooting. Venue employee Alexander Zhurik reportedly spoke to Fariduni, who Shot refers to as the terrorists’ “ringleader,” before a concert on March 8; according to Zhurik, Fariduni examined the building and asked about its layout. Additionally, Baza published a photo of Fariduni that was reportedly taken on March 7 by one of Crocus City Hall’s official photographers. According to the channel 112, one of the suspects also attended a performance at the venue on the day before the attack.
Three of the four men charged in connection with the attack have been in Russia for at least several months, the independent news site Agentstvo has reported. According to the outlet, Shamsidin Fariduni, Muhammadsobir Fayzov, and Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev arrived in the country several months ago. It’s unclear when the fourth suspect, Saidakrami Rachabalizoda, came to Russia. The newspaper Izvestia, citing their own sources, reported that two of the suspects received instructions for the attack in Turkey and that the others were recruited in Russia. One source said the alleged perpetrators met just 3–4 weeks before the incident.
A Moscow court charged the four suspects with terrorism and ordered them to be placed in pre-trial detention for an initial period of two months. All of the men pleaded guilty. One of the defendants, Muhammadsobir Fayzov, was brought to court in a wheelchair after reportedly being “injured during his arrest” (videos that appeared online over the weekend appear to show Russian security officials torturing some of the suspects). The court session was closed to the public.
Update: Russian prosecutors have requested the formal arrest of three more suspects in Friday’s deadly terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue outside Moscow. According to materials submitted to the court, the accused are two brothers and their father: Aminchon, Dilovar, and Isroil Islomov. Their alleged roles in the attack are still unclear.
It’s unclear whether the authorities have identified other suspects in the case. On Saturday, FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov reportedly told Vladimir Putin that 11 people had been arrested in connection with the attack. He said that the intelligence services were still working to identify individuals who had assisted the perpetrators. At the arraignment hearing on Sunday, however, there were only four suspects. The independent outlet Mediazona noted that Russia’s Code of Criminal Procedure gives the authorities 48 hours to officially arrest or remand a suspect before they must be released, and that no information about other suspects has been reported.
The Russian authorities have continued denying rumors about police operations on the day of the attack. On Monday morning, Interior Ministry spokesperson Irina Volk published a Telegram post stating that the allegation that a K-9 unit van was located in the Crocus City Hall parking lot at the time of the attack is false. “The vehicle that was photographed and recorded on video is an ambulance,” she wrote. The previous day, Volk posted a statement denying that police failed to respond properly to the attack. According to her, law enforcement arrived at the scene five minutes after the incident began. She also commented on a video that appears to show a dog handler and his dog fleeing the scene of the attack immediately after the shooting begins. “The man in the camouflage uniform with the dog who was captured on video has no connection to law enforcement agencies,” she said.
The Telegram channel VChK-OGPU noted that there is a police station near Crocus City Hall. Yandex Maps indicates that it takes about six minutes to get from the station to the concert venue on foot.
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