3 killed, 11 injured in Brazil twin school shootings

No fewer than three people including an adolescent girl were killed while 11 others were wounded on Friday after a 16-year-old shooter opened fire on two schools in Brazil.

Authorities in Aracruz, Espirito Santo state, said the shooter, a policeman’s son, had opened fire on a group of teachers at his former school Friday morning, killing two people and leaving nine others wounded.

Officials stated that the shooter then left the school – a public primary and secondary school – and went to a nearby private school, where he killed an adolescent girl and left two other people wounded.

Authorities have arrested the shooter, said Governor Renato Casagrande, who declared three days of mourning in the state.

“He was a student at (the first) school until June, a 16-year-old minor. His family then transferred him to another school. We have information he was undergoing psychiatric treatment,” Casagrande told a news conference.

He said some of the survivors’ lives remained at risk from their wounds.

“We are rooting and praying for them to recover,” he added.

Security camera footage aired on Brazilian media showed the shooter running into the school, dressed in military-style camouflage and brandishing a gun. He then sprinted through the hallways, sending staff fleeing in terror as he began firing shots.

Investigators said he had a swastika on his fatigues.

Officials said the shooter used two handguns in the attack, both registered to his father – one his service firearm, the other a privately registered weapon.

Casagrande said the boy appeared to have planned the attack carefully, breaking in through a locked door and skirting the school’s security guard.

He then entered the teachers’ lounge – the first room he came to – and opened fire, the governor said.

“He was looking to shoot people. He opened fire on the first people he came across,” he said.

Investigators could be seen carrying victims’ bodies in coffins and loading them in police trucks outside the school, which was cordoned off with crime scene tape, an AFP photographer said.

The town in Brazil has a population of about 100,000 people.

The Star

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