At least eight people have been killed and more wounded in a shooting on campus at a university in Perm, 700 miles east of Moscow in the Russian Urals.

       In chaotic scenes captured on trembling cellphones, a young gunman approached building number 8, a central hall housing the geography faculty, shortly after 11.30am local time. Desperate students jumped from first floor windows of the building. Dozens reportedly barricaded themselves in classrooms, using tables and chairs to block the doors.

       Just after 12pm local time, police authorities announced they had detained the gunman. Dmitry Makhonin, the regional governor, later said he had died.

       Local media have identified him as 18 year old Timur Bekmansurov. In a social media post written just before the attack, Mr Bekmansurov explained the process of obtaining a shooting license and weapon — apparently successfully passing psychiatric tests — and said he chose the university because it had “committed a serious mistake” four years ago.

       The text appears to show a young man in a distressed mental state.

       “However long I’ve known myself, I’ve always thought of death,” it reads. “I don’t know how many I can kill, but I will do everything to take as many with me as I can.”

       Mass shootings are relatively rare events in Russia given the presence strict gun controls. But they appear to be on the increase. In May this year, a student in Kazan attacked his former school, killing nine. It followed a major attack three years earlier in Kerch, annexed Crimea, when 18-year old Vladislav Roslyakov killed 20 of his fellow students.

       That was the most shooting incident since the 2004 terror attack in Beslan, where 333 died, many of them youngsters.

       More to follow