Some newspapers described the attack as " Russia 's Columbine " , a reference to the 1999 US high school massacre . Steven Rosenberg said the attack should not be surprising as he noted there had already been five attacks in schools in Russia in 2018 where a number of children were injured . A '' Telegraph '' article also claimed there had been half a dozen school attacks in Russia in 2018 , although claiming the previous incidents involved knives and traumatic pistols rather than high-powered firearms
1999 US high school massacre
Columbine High School massacre
Kerch Polytechnic College massacre