Several killed in Brazil school shooting
March 13, 2019
Two armed men wearing face masks killed at least five teenagers who were on their snack breaks at the Raul Brasil school on Wednesday. Two school officials were also killed.
An additional 17 people, mostly children, were shot and injured in the attack on the school in Suzano, southeast Brazil. A number of them were in serious condition, according to police.
The attackers turned their guns on themselves and died shortly after the attack, police said. Their motive is as yet unclear.
State police Commander Marcelo Salles spoke outside the school and said that in more than 30 years of service, he had "never seen anything like this, it was an unspeakably brutal crime."
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Pistol, bombs and crossbow
Security cameras inside and near the school showed children screaming and running away, looking for help.
The gunmen appeared to be in their early 20s. They had shot a worker at a car wash nearby before they went into the school where a thousand children aged between 11 and 15 study.
Police said they arrived at the school eight minutes after receiving a call but the gunmen were already dead. The attackers had used a .38 pistol, homemade bombs and a crossbow.
School shootings are rare in Brazil, despite it being one of the world's most violent countries, with the largest number of annual homicides worldwide. The last serious school shooting was in 2011, when 12 children were shot dead by a former pupil in Rio de Janeiro.
The shooting comes after Brazil's new President Jair Bolsonaro recently announced that gun ownership controls would be loosened.
law/jm (AFP, AP, Reuters)