This morning I read this passage:

The children crossed Oktyabrskaya Street, joined others who were carrying balloons to celebrate the day and entered the schoolyard for an outdoor assembly. Minutes later the hostage-takers appeared, wearing camouflage and black masks.

Yelena Arkova, the girls’ mother, was in the family’s fourth-floor apartment when she heard the opening shots. At first she thought they were firecrackers. Then there were more.

A battle had started between outmatched police officers on routine schoolhouse duty and what Russian officials describe as a seasoned band of Chechen and Ingush fighters, with at least one Ossetian militant.

Now strange details cling to memory. Ms. Arkova said she ran to the balcony as the shooting intensified and saw dozens of multicolored balloons rising through the schoolyard’s trees. Their release, she said, must have marked the moment when the children panicked, all as one.

Go and see the photo here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/03/international/europe/03school.html