In the Russian artist Alyona Kazinskaya she liked to fill her social media accounts with cheerful posts and colorful drawings. For 30 minutes last Friday night, those accounts were transformed in a horror timeline.

Kazinskaya and a friend had bought last-minute tickets to see the rock band “Picnic” perform in front of 6,200 people at a concert hall near Moscow. They considered taking their daughters with them, but ultimately decided to go alone.

It was 8:01 p.m. when Kazinskaya posted a first 10-second audio message to her Telegram account, in which she sounded breathless and terrified, while shots rang out from behind.

“I love you all. I’m at Crocus City Hall – Picnic. Here they are shooting, at the concert. I’m in the hall. Call the police.”

As four Kalashnikov-wielding gunmen roamed the building shooting indiscriminately, Kazinskaya was trapped inside, during the deadliest attack in Russia in 20 years.

To date, the casualty count in the carnage amounts to 143 dead. The jihadist organization Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, with Russia attempting, despite denials from Kiev, to link the strike to Ukraine.

In an interview with Reuters, Kazinskaya said she soon realized the sounds she was hearing were gunshots, not special effects. Together with her friend, they tried to get up from their seats and run to escape.

“We tried to pick people up, we picked them up, but people were already running towards the exit and we couldn’t get through. At that moment (the armed men) entered the hall. I threw my girlfriend on the floor and said “let’s crawl”.

Check out this Instagram post.

The post was shared by Alena Kazinskaya (@alena_kaz)

Mixed messages

Her first thought, as she described it, was to get out of the room, at any cost. “My second thought was ‘I’m wearing white, I’m a good target’.”

“And finally, my third thought was to write something at that moment – yes, I was afraid, but I will upload these messages to my (Telegram) account, because that way, someone, somewhere will definitely listen, find them and he’ll call someone.”

At 20.08 she wrote three messages one after the other, confusing the letters as her fingers trembled with fear as she tried to write.

“Please call the police!!!!!”.

“Crocus City Hall”

“Shooting.”

By that time, the two had managed to escape the hall, but remained trapped inside the building. The shooting stopped, but there was one more threat.

20.17, posts a message with one word: “Fire!”.

The gunmen had used petrol to set fire to the huge concert hall. The two friends found refuge in a toilet. There was smoke everywhere. They tried six times to get out, but they couldn’t see anything.

Kazinskaya was losing all hope.

At 8.23pm he left another four-second audio message, which he believed would be his last.

“I love you. Goodbye”.

Having lost their orientation, the two women took refuge in another toilet, where more people were hiding. There was a man there, who told them he thought he could find an escape route. They followed him and managed to get outside the building, but even then Kazinskaya did not feel safe.

“I was only thinking of two things. First, I needed first aid because I couldn’t breathe. I had burns on my lungs and an asthma attack. And my second thought was that I had to get as far away from the building as I could.”

At 20.31 he posted a new audio message. “I am alive, they are giving me first aid. I went out. Thank you”.

Once back home, Kazinskaya said she just “huged everyone.” Now he says that for a long time he will not go to clubs or big concerts. But she is comforted by the wave of support she has received.

Check out this Instagram post.

The post was shared by Alena Kazinskaya (@alena_kaz)