Jamia Shooter Was On Facebook Live Moments Before He Fired

The Jamia shooter was taken into police custody soon after the incident.

The person who opened fire at people protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act near the Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi on Thursday afternoon had gone live on Facebook minutes before he pulled out his pistol.

Selfie-footage posted by the attacker, who identifies himself as a right-wing activist on Facebook, shows him walking around the venue of the protest dressed in a black sleeveless bomber jacket and looking around furtively, as if trying to decide on his target.

The attacker, who was heard shouting "Yeh lo azaadi (here's your freedom)", managed to injure a student -- Shadab Farukh -- before he was overpowered by the others around him. Even as the protester was rushed to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences with blood dripping down his left hand, the venue descended into chaos.

The locality was heavily barricaded after the incident, and traffic has been diverted to other routes.

The attacker's previous posts on the social media site seemed to indicate that he had come prepared for the consequences of his action. "On my last journey, drape me in saffron and shout slogans of Jai Shri Ram," one of them said.

Another more threatening post read "Shaheen Bagh, Game Over", referring to a massive protest against the citizenship law taken up by women and children in a neighbouring area over the last few weeks. A third post seemed to lament the fact that there was no "Hindu media" at the spot.

A resident of Jewar in Uttar Pradesh, he was arrested by the police soon after the shooting. Police refused to identify him, saying that he is a juvenile. 

Aamna Asif, a Jamia student, said the police did not do anything to stop the attacker. "We were standing near the barricades when suddenly this outsider, whom none of us recognised, tried to disturb the peace. He marched forward with a revolver in his hand. We were all trying to stop him and calm him down. The policemen remained standing there. He shot one of our friends when we tried to disarm him," the eyewitness told NDTV.

Incidentally, two men -- one of them armed with a gun -- had tried to threaten protesters at Shaheen Bagh with a pistol on Tuesday. They were, however, overpowered by those at the venue and whisked away before any harm could be done.

According to witnesses, the men allegedly told the protesters to clear the road or die.