The Latest: Crimea hunts possible school attack accomplice
By Associated Press
Oct 18, 2018 4:30 AM CDT
Police vehicles stand near a vocational college in Kerch, Crimea, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018. An 18-year-old student strode into his vocational school in Crimea, a hoodie covering his blond hair, then pulled out a shotgun and opened fire on Wednesday, killing scores of students and wounding dozens of others...   (Associated Press)

MOSCOW (AP) — The Latest on the Crimea school attack (all times local):

12:25 p.m.

The local leader of the Crimean Peninsula says that authorities are looking for a possible accomplice in the shooting and bomb attack at a vocational school that killed 20 people and wounded dozens of others.

Authorities had previously said that it was a lone-wolf attack carried out by an 18-year-old student. Wednesday's attack in the city of Kerch was by far the worst by a student in Russia, raising questions about school security in the country.

Kremlin-appointed Crimean chief Sergei Aksyonov told Russian news agencies on Thursday that it is possible that the shooter had an accomplice. Aksyonov said that the shooter, identified as Vyacheslav Roslyakov, was alone in the school but added that authorities believe that there may have been someone who was helping him plot the attack.

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10:15 a.m.

Russia's health minister says at least 10 of the wounded in a shooting by a student at a vocational school in Crimea will be airlifted to hospitals in Russia.

An 18-year-old student went on a shooting rampage at the school on the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, killing 19 people and wounding more than 50 others before killing himself. Wednesday's attack in the city of Kerch was by far the worst school shooting by a student in Russia.

Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova told Russian news agencies on Thursday that authorities are preparing to airlift at least 10 people with severe injuries to top Russian hospitals for surgery. Dozens more remain hospitalized in Kerch.

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