Brazil school shooting: 13 dead after gunman opens fire
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The BBC's Paulo Cabral says hundreds of people are gathered outside the school
A man has opened fire in a school in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, leaving 13 people dead, officials say.
It remains unclear whether the attacker, who is among the dead, was then killed by police or shot himself. The gunman is thought to be a 24-year-old former pupil. More than 20 people were also injured in the shooting.
Globo TV showed images of the victims being taken away by ambulance from the Escola Municipal Tasso da Silveira school in the western Realengo area.
'Aiming at heads' "The person entered, and fired shots," a spokeswoman for Rio's police told Globo.
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Rodrigo Alves Pereira witnessThis is a complete tragedy! We are all devastated!”
The attacker - who was later identified as Wellington Menezes Oliveira - entered the school at about 0800 local time (1100 GMT).
Globo said he had told school officials he was there to make a speech. He reportedly had two revolvers and a lot of ammunition. He opened fire aiming at victims' heads, Brazil's Estadao newspaper reports.
It is still unclear whether he shot himself or was killed by the police.
Dorival Porto Rafael, a rubbish collector who was at the school at the time, told Globo online that the gunman walked into a class where students were studying Portuguese.
"He came into the class saying he was going to give a talk. He went to an eighth grade class, on the [ground floor], and without saying anything took out a pistol from his bag and started firing," Mr Rafael said.
"The police arrived and he tried to go up to the next floor, but when he saw he was surrounded he shot himself in the head," the eyewitness added.
"I went out and saw many children... coming out of the school. Some of them were covered in blood, shaken, asking for help. One was injured in the shoulder. They were desperate and crying.
"They said that there was a man wearing a suit who was shooting at school kids in classrooms. He first went to a reading room, talked to teachers there, and then went on to two classrooms. This is a complete tragedy! We are all devastated!" Mr Pereira said.
Police later said the gunman had a letter, stating that he intended to commit suicide after the shooting.
A crowd of about 100 people later gathered outside the school, which is attended by pupils aged nine to 14.
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