Published: Yesterday 18.18
Updated: Less than 40 min ago
At least three people have been killed and eleven injured after a person opened fire at two different schools in southeastern Brazil.
In the first school, two women were killed and nine people were injured.
The shooter then made his way to the other school where a girl was killed and two more people were injured.
The suspected assailant was wearing military clothing, a mask and a bulletproof vest and was armed with a semi-automatic pistol when he attacked on Friday morning, Luis Carlos Coutinho, mayor of Aracruz, told CBN.
The attacks targeted two schools, one public and one private, located on the same street in the small town of Aracruz, 80 miles north of the Espirito Santo state capital of Vitoria.
– He got into the school by breaking open the padlock. And he had access to the teacher’s room, says Espirito Santos Minister of Public Security Marcio Celante.
According to CNN Brazil, the perpetrator has been identified as a 16-year-old boy, a former student at one of the schools. He fled the scene of the crime but was able to be arrested by the police after four hours on the run.
The victims are said to be two teachers and a student, a young girl. Six of the injured were still being treated in hospital on Friday afternoon. Two of them must be children.
“Absurd Tragedy”
According to Marcio Celante, the police believe that the suspected perpetrator acted alone.
It is still unclear what is behind the act.
“We will continue to investigate the motive and should have more information in the near future,” writes Renato Casagrande, governor of the state of Espírito Santo.
President-elect Lula da Silva called the incident an “absurd tragedy”, and expressed his sympathies with the families of the victims.
This type of crime is relatively rare in Brazil. The deadliest school shooting occurred in 2011 and claimed the lives of eleven children.