The man 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 assailant, who identifies himself as Rambhakt Gopal, 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.
Jambhakt Gopal, who was heard shouting "Yeh lo azaadi (here's your freedom)", managed to injure one Shadaab Farukh before he was overpowered by the others around him. Even as the protester was rushed to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) 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.
Rambhakt Gopal'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, take me draped 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 on the Delhi-Noida route. A third one seemed to lament the fact that there was no "Hindu media" at the spot.
The assailant was arrested by the police soon after the shooting.
Aamna Asif, a Jamia student, said the police did not do anything to stop Rambhakt Gopal. "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 reporters.