Was it a test of courage?

Siberia: Boy injures three classmates with a hammer

A 13-year-old boy attacked and injured three classmates with a hammer at a school in Siberia on Monday morning. The boy attacked his classmates with a hammer before he was overpowered by a teacher, explained the education minister of the Irkutsk region.

The victims received immediate medical treatment and their lives are not in danger, it is said. Just a week ago, another 13-year-old in Chelyabinsk in the Ural region injured three classmates and a teacher with a hammer.

Was it perhaps a test of courage online?
The motives for both attacks were initially unclear. According to Russian media reports, the perpetrators in both cases may have been taking part in some kind of online test of courage.

Number of attacks in schools on the rise
Until a few years ago, attacks in Russian schools were an absolute rarity, but more recently their number has increased. Last December, for example, a 14-year-old at a school in Bryansk shot and killed a classmate and then herself.

In September 2022, 18 people were killed in a gun attack at a school in Ijewsk in the center of the country, and in 2021 an attacker killed nine people at a school in Kazan in the Tatarstan region.