The Cheka-OGPU continues to publish the stories of those killed in the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall.

 

Olga Vinogradova, 48.

 

She arrived at Crocus City Hall with her son, Vladislav, and her husband, Artur Savelov.

 

According to Savelov, as they passed through the security checkpoints and were putting their belongings in their pockets, gunshots, shattering glass, and screams were heard coming from the entrance. He turned around and saw a crowd of people moving toward the hall, followed by four armed men; two were carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles, and one of the attackers was wearing camouflage.

 

Savelov lost sight of his son and wife: first, the boy ran away, and he and Olga scattered in different directions to look for him. The man headed for the escalator. His son later called him, saying he had escaped through a broken window, cut his hand, but was still alive, and had stayed by the car to wait.

 

Savelov returned to the building and, when the gunfire in the lobby died down, began searching for Olga among the bodies with his phone's flashlight. The dead and wounded were all around. Artur found his wife near the escalator on the first floor; he identified her by her clothing.

 

Forensic experts determined that Vinogradova died from gunshot wounds. All shots were fired at long range.

 

Ekaterina Novoselova, 42 (pictured).

Miss Tver 2001, mother of two. She attended a concert of the band "Piknik" at Crocus City Hall with her friends.

She has two children at home (a son born in 2010 and a daughter born in 2013).

 

A court hearing was scheduled for April 1, 2024, to hear the divorce proceedings between Ekaterina Novoselova and Alexander Kostyukov, a well-known municipal entrepreneur.

 

According to the victim's brother, Ekaterina was in a good mood the day before, calling her mother to tell her she was going to a concert that evening.

 

When the shooting started, Ekaterina was in the lobby on the first floor with her friends. They ran in different directions: her friends in one direction, Ekaterina in the other. Her friends managed to escape and later reported that they never saw her again.

 

On March 23, Ekaterina was found among the dead.

 

She died from gunshot wounds.

 

Egor Smolyakov, 9 years old.

 

He came to Crocus City Hall with his mother. This happened by tragic coincidence. The friend with whom Egor's mother was planning to go to the concert canceled at the last minute, and the woman took her son with her.

 

Tickets were for the mezzanine, seats 28-29. By 7:45 PM, they had passed through security and gone up to the escalators, but at the request of the security guards, they returned to take off their coats. Just before the terrorist attack, a mother and son stood by a column to the left of the escalators—"to avoid the crowd."

 

Next, the grief-stricken mother's memories. First, there was a bang from the entrance, and people rushed toward the escalators. The woman led her son behind a column, they crouched, and she covered him with her body. Another flurry of bangs, sparks flew across the floor, and the smell of burning and gunpowder filled the air.

 

Out of the corner of her eye, to the right, she saw the silhouette of a man with a gun. And then, a blow, and the mother screamed. She remembers everything in fragments: a call to her ex-husband ("We were shot... Yegor is dead... they're going to kill me now").

 

Darkness all around, suffocation, a loud announcement "leave the building," and nearby—the lifeless body of a woman in a white sweater, pain in her left arm, right leg, and face. Five meters away—a shattered glass door.

She rose through the pain, realizing she couldn't bear to bear her son's body. She went outside, and was escorted to the parking lot. An ambulance, hospitalization.

Her father was already on his way to the burning Crocus after she screamed into the phone. He found his ex-wife in the ambulance and later identified his son's body.

His mother suffered severe gunshot wounds.

 

To be continued...