page_title: Kerch Polytechnic College massacre
section_title: Perpetrator
hierarchical_section_title: Kerch Polytechnic College massacre / Perpetrator
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Подозреваемый в совершении массового убийства в Керченском политехническом колледже Владислав Росляков.
context_page_description: The Kerch Polytechnic College massacre was a school shooting and bomb attack that occurred in Kerch, Crimea, on 17 October 2018. 18-year-old student Vladislav Roslyakov shot and killed 20 people and wounded 70 others before committing suicide. The attack was the greatest loss of life in school violence in the former Soviet Union since the 2004 Beslan school siege.
context_section_description: The attack was perpetrated by a fourth-year student of the college, 18-year-old Vladislav Igorevich Roslyakov (Russian: Владисла́в И́горевич Росляко́в).
  When Roslyakov was around ten years old, his parents broke up when his father sustained a severe head injury, after which he became disabled and aggressive towards Roslyakov, his mother and other relatives. Roslyakov studied at a local school with no interest and poor grades. He had few friends and his hobbies included weapons and video games. In 2015 he joined the college to study to become an electrician. In college he developed an interest in explosives and weapons and started to take a knife bayonet to class. One day he discharged pepper spray in a class and failed to explain his actions. His mother belonged to the local Jehovah's Witnesses, who limited his social activity, searched his pockets and refused to allow him to go to the cinema or use a computer, only allowing the latter when he turned 16. In the days before the attack he stated that he did not believe in the afterlife. On the eve of the attack, according to neighbors, Roslyakov burned a Bible in which he had highlighted verses.
  A friend has claimed that Roslyakov "hated the polytechnic very much" and had vowed revenge on his teachers. There were also reports that he may have been bullied. According to an ex-girlfriend, he said he had lost faith in people when his classmates started to ridicule him for being different. In the days before the attack he discussed ignorance by others, the lack of purpose in his life, mass shootings and suicide on social media. Roslyakov was in a number of online communities dedicated to serial killers.
  Surveillance footage of the incident shows Roslyakov wearing black trousers and a white T-shirt emblazoned with the Russian word "НЕНАВИСТЬ" (hatred) as he carries an eight-shot 12 gauge Hatsan Escort Aimguard pump-action shotgun with a pistol grip. His clothing resembles that of Eric Harris, one of the perpetrators of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, leading to speculation that the massacre was a copycat crime. According to some Russian tabloids, he had been a member of various Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold fanclubs on social networks, and had informed friends of his belief that "it would be good to have a massacre", specifically referencing Columbine High School massacre as an example. Furthermore, he had mentioned his belief in the two perpetrators being "awesome gone". Like Eric Harris, Roslyakov committed suicide in the library of the college, by shooting himself with his shotgun.
caption: Roslyakov in the Sokol gun store, four days before the attack.
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