Bio

Ilnaz Rinatovich Galyaviev was born on 11 September 2001. He lived in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, Russia.

He finished school at Gymnasium No. 175 in 2017. After that, he enrolled at the College of TISBI in Kazan. His specialty was information technology. He was expelled from the college in April 2021 after failing to attend an exam.

Authorities said he had no previous criminal record. He had sought medical help for severe headaches. In 2020, he was diagnosed with encephalopathy, a brain condition, according to reports. In court on 12 May he denied having any serious illnesses.

Teachers and school staff gave mixed descriptions. The rector of his former school called him a neat student who did not miss classes. A classmate said he was withdrawn and unsociable but sometimes helped others with their studies. That classmate also said Galyaviev once joked about inviting someone to join a sect.

Relatives noticed changes in his behavior. They reported an increase in aggressive behavior in the period before spring 2021. In spring 2021, the relatives who had lived with him moved out, and he began living alone.

Murder Story

On 11 May 2021, a school shooting and bomb attack happened in Kazan, Tatarstan. Seven eighth-grade students and two teachers were killed. Twenty-three other people were injured.

The incident took place at Gymnasium No. 175. The school had 714 students and 70 staff present that day. A school worker at the main entrance was wounded and pressed a panic button, which set off the alarm and alerted police. Teachers were warned and some classrooms were locked.

The attacker moved through the building and shot people in halls and classrooms. He set off an improvised explosive device near an English classroom. He later entered a third-floor classroom, where seven students were killed. About 30 shots were fired. He ran out of ammunition and law enforcement arrived minutes later. The school was evacuated within twenty minutes.

Video from inside and outside the school appeared on social media. The footage showed students leaving through classroom windows and corridors with personal items left behind. Firefighters rescued 23 people from the third floor.

Nine people died in the attack: two teachers and seven students. The teachers were Venera Aizatova, 55, and Elvira Ignatyeva, 26. The students killed were Amir Shaikhutdinov (14), Alisa Garifullina (15), Damir Gainutdinov (14), Amir Volkov (15), Zulfiya Galimzyanova (15), Amir Zaripov (14), and Ilziya Nagimullina (14). One student from the gymnasium later died by suicide. Twenty students aged 7 to 15 and three adults were injured. Several wounded students were hospitalized, and some were flown to Moscow for treatment.

The suspect was 19-year-old Ilnaz Rinatovich Galyaviev, a former student of the gymnasium. He was detained after the attack. He had graduated from the same school in 2017 and later enrolled at a college in Kazan. He had no prior criminal record. Investigators reported he had sought medical help for severe headaches and was diagnosed in 2020 with encephalopathy. He denied having serious illnesses in court.

In the months before the attack, he obtained a gun license and bought a semi-automatic shotgun and ammunition. He also made an improvised explosive device using instructions from the internet. He said he had sold in-game items to get money for the purchases. On the morning of the attack, he posted a photo on Telegram with a caption saying he would kill a large amount of "biowaste" and shoot himself.

On 12 May, he pleaded guilty to the murder of two or more persons. He was examined by psychiatric experts. After further examination, investigators said he committed the crime while sane. He was charged under several articles of the Russian Criminal Code. His trial began in November 2022. On 13 April 2023, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in a special regime colony. In January 2025, bailiffs began collecting 23 million rubles from him to settle victims' claims.

After the attack, schools in Kazan had increased security and some classes were canceled. A day of mourning was declared on 12 May. Authorities provided payments to the families of the dead and to injured people. The attack also prompted proposals to tighten gun laws and to change rules for school safety.