A 15-year-old boy is being credited with saving over 100 people he led away from the terrorist massacre at a Moscow concert hall on Friday.
The teen, Islam Khalilov, works as a cloakroom attendant at the Crocus City Hall, where the shooting took place. His familiarity with the building allowed him to act quickly to guide terrified concertgoers to safety, preventing further deaths in Friday’s massacre.
“At first we heard some strange sounds on the first floor. We thought maybe some noisy group had come,” he explained later in an interview, according to the Daily Mail.
“I understood that if I didn’t react, I would lose my life and the lives of many people,” he added “Honestly, it was very scary.”
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Footage from various angles shows Khalilov shouting at concertgoers and corralling them toward an emergency exit.
“That way, that way, that way,” Khalilov can be seen saying in footage. “Everybody go that way. Everybody over there. To the Expo, to the Expo….”
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“When I was in the crowd of people, walking to the door to open it, I thought [the gunmen] might come out of the stairs or from the escalator, and throw a grenade or open lethal fire,” he said.
“Thank God, nothing happened. I managed to open the door in time and let everyone out towards the Expo,” he added.
“We were shown and told where to send people if something happened. I knew where to take people to keep them safe,” Khalilov said.
“That all this happened before my eyes. To be honest, I’m still in a state of shock. A man was shot right in front of me, I can’t stop thinking about it,” he finished.
At least 133 people were killed in Friday’s attack. Russian authorities have arrested 11 suspects, four of whom they say were directly involved in the massacre.
President Vladimir Putin addressed the shocked nation in a televised broadcast on Saturday, slamming the massacre as “a bloody, barbaric terrorist act.” He declared Sun., March 24, a day of mourning.
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