Russian artist Alyona Kazinskaya shares optimistic messages and cheerful flower paintings on her social media pages, but in the night hours of last Friday, her page content turned into a 30-minute narration of horrific events.
Kazinskaya and her friend bought tickets to see a concert by a Soviet-era rock band performing in front of 6,200 people at a concert hall near Moscow. The two friends thought about taking their daughters, but in the end they decided to go alone.
Kaczynskaya posted her first 10-second audio message on her channel on the Telegram application at 8:01 p.m., and her voice appeared trembling and breathless as the loud sound of gunfire was heard in the message.
“I love you all. I'm at Crocus City Hall for a band concert. There are people shooting at the concert. Call the police,” she said.
As four gunmen carrying Kalashnikov rifles stormed the building and opened fire on attendees, Kaczynskaya found herself surrounded.
As of Thursday, 143 people were confirmed dead in this massacre, for which the terrorist organization ISIS claimed responsibility.
Kazinskaya said, in a press interview, that she quickly realized that the sounds she heard were gunshots and not sound effects, and she and her friend tried to persuade the audience to leave their seats and escape out of the hall.
She added, “We tried to attract the attention of the audience and succeeded in doing so. But people had already started running to get out and we were unable to catch up with them. At this moment, the gunmen entered the hall. I threw my friend to the ground and told her, 'It is better for us to crawl.'”
Confused messages
Kazinskaya said that the first thing that came to her mind was to get out of the hall at any cost, and then “another thought came to my mind, which is that I am wearing white, which makes me an easy target.”
Kaczynskaya stopped talking briefly, then laughed.
She added, “Finally, the third idea was that I would publish anything at that time. Yes, I am very afraid, but I will publish these messages on my channel (via the Telegram application) because this way, anyone will find them and hear them, and in turn they will ask for help.”
At 8:08 p.m., she wrote three messages in quick succession, the order of which was mixed up because her fingers were shaking on the phone.
The text of these successive messages was: “Please call the police… Crocus City Hall… There is a shooting.”
At that time, the two friends were able to exit the hall but were still trapped inside the building. Then the shooting stopped and another danger appeared.
At 8:17 p.m., she posted a one-word audio message: “Fire!”
The gunmen used gasoline to start a fire in the huge concert hall. The two friends took refuge in the toilet, and smoke was rising everywhere. They tried to get out six times, but they could not see anything because of the smoke and had to retreat each time.
Kaczynskaya began to lose hope.
Kaczynskaya left a four-second voice message at 8:23 p.m. and thought it would be her last.
“I love you. Goodbye,” she said in the message.
In the midst of this chaos and confusion, they found themselves in another restroom where many people were hiding and there was a man saying that he thought he could find a way out, so they followed him until they were able to get out of the building, but until this moment Kaczynskaya did not feel safe.
She said, “Two thoughts came to my mind. The first was that I needed first aid because I couldn't breathe. I was feeling pain in my lungs and I was having an asthma attack. The second thought was that I wanted to get away from the building as much as possible.”
At 8:31 p.m., Kaczynskaya left a new voice message saying, “I'm still alive and receiving first aid. I'm out (of the building). Thank you.”
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