What We Know about the Crimea Gunman So Far

As the probe into the Crimea college shooting continues, details are emerging about the personal life of the teenage gunman who killed 20 people before killing himself.

Here's what has been reported about 18-year-old Vladislav Roslyakov so far:

- Family life -

Roslyakov's parents separated when he was around 10 because his father drank heavily, his grandmother Taisiya Roslyakova told the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid. 

But he continued to see his father on occasion. 

His mother works as a low-paid orderly in a cancer out-patient department, according to Russian television.

She is a Jehovah's Witness, reported Kommersant daily, a religious group that is banned from operating in Russia and treated as a harmful sect.

RBK daily quoted a colleague as saying his mother Galina is a "good person" and pleasant to everyone at work. On the day of the killings, she was at work and helped treat victims.

The online news channel Mash said that his mother had told the investigation her son had watched videos of school shootings in the days ahead of the attack.

After learning of the attack, his mother was "grief-stricken" while his father was "baffled," Crimea rights ombudswoman Lyudmila Lubina told RIA Novosti state news agency.

- 'Withdrawn' -

His grandmother said the boy she called "Vladik" was "kind and helpful" but said that as he grew up he became "reserved and withdrawn."

His girlfriend, named as 15-year-old school student Zlata also told RT state television that he was "kind" and "helped me when things were going badly."

But she said when they first met he was "very repressed and distrustful."

- Desire for revenge -

His former girlfriend said he told her that he wanted to take revenge on classmates who "humiliated" him and that "he said he didn't want to live because of this."

She said that when they broke up, he told her not to contact him and blacklisted her online.

A friend told RBK daily that Roslyakov hated the college and the "evil teachers" and hinted he would taken revenge on them.

He once sprayed pepper spray in a classroom at the college, an unnamed classmate told Komsomolskaya Pravda.

- Interest in weapons -

His hobby was Airsoft, a team game involving shooting opponents with replica airguns, an "informed" source told Interfax news agency.

He also "knew chemistry well and it's thought he made explosives himself using ammonium nitrate," the source added. 

Roslyakov was in the fourth year of a course to become an electrician, to work on equipment for industrial and domestic use.

Security camera video published by Ren-TV showed him on Monday buying 150 bullets for his gun, after presenting a license issued last month. 

In Russia, application for a gun license involves studying marksmanship and being ruled mentally healthy. It is a relatively costly process. 

An instructor confirmed to the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets that Roslyakov had taken a short course to get a license.

- Planned attack -

Roslyakov arrived at the college while everyone was in classes, taking a back entrance and getting changed in a toilet that was closed for repairs, Mash reported, posting some security camera images.

Shortly before the attack, Roslyakov deleted his social media account, an unnamed classmate told Komsomolskaya Pravda, saying he had tried to contact him after he didn't attend classes from Monday.

Crimea rights ombudswoman Lubina told RIA Novosti that "he professionally cleared his data from his computer."

The carefully planned attack has led some officials to suggest Roslyakov could not have acted alone.