Gunman in Brazil kills 12 schoolchildren before killing himself
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A woman shows a picture of her niece Patricia, a victim of Thursday's school shootings in the working-class neighborhood of Realengo. The gunman lined students up against a wall before firing at point-blank range. / Photos by VANDERLEI ALMEIDA/Agence France Press/Ge
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A relative of a victim in the shootings is comforted Thursday while surrounded by reporters at the school in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In addition to the 12 killed, 12 people were injured and taken to hospitals.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- A gunman roamed the halls of a Rio de Janeiro elementary school Thursday and killed 12 children, lining them up against a wall and shooting them in the head at point-blank range as he shouted, "I'm going to kill you all!"
It was the worst school shooting in Brazil -- and would have been deadlier if the gunman had not been shot in the legs by a police officer, who said the man then fell down some stairs and shot himself in the head.
Rio de Janeiro state's Secretariat of Health and Civil Defense said in a statement on its Web site that at least 12 other students were injured and taken to hospitals. At least two were in grave condition.
The dead included 10 girls and two boys, plus the gunman, according to the Health and Civil Defense department. Those killed were between the ages of 12 and 15. One of the boys died at a hospital about 12 hours after the shooting.
"He came in shooting," said Andreia Machado, recounting what her 13-year-old daughter, Thayane, told her before going into surgery.
Thayane was hit by three bullets and lost feeling in her legs because one hit her spine, her mother said.
The gunman was identified as 23-year-old Wellington Oliveira, who had once attended the Tasso da Silveira school in a working-class neighborhood in western Rio.
No motive was known, but authorities said the shooter left a mostly incoherent letter at the scene indicating he wanted to kill himself. The letter also explained in detail how he wanted his corpse to be cared for.
"If possible I want to be buried next to my mother. A follower of God must visit my grave at least once. He must pray before my grave and ask God to forgive me for what I have done," read the letter.
Edmar Peixoto, the deputy mayor of western Rio, said the letter also stated the gunman had AIDS.
Rio Police Chief Martha Rocha said the gunman was carrying two pistols and an ammunition belt. He fired off at least 30 rounds.
About 400 people were inside the school when the shooting began about 8:30 a.m. local time.
Police were alerted when two young boys, at least one with a gunshot wound, ran to two officers on patrol about two blocks away. The officers sprinted to the school, and at least one located the gunman and traded shots with him.
"He saw me and aimed a gun at me," Officer Marcio Alves said. "I shot him in the legs, he fell down the stairs and then shot himself in the head."
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff lamented the deaths of "defenseless children."
"It's not in the nature of our nation to have these types of crimes," she said.
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