At least 11 pupils are killed in shooting at Rio school

Published on Thursday 7 April 2011 18:01

A GUNMAN opened fire at a public elementary school in Rio de Janeiro yesterday and killed at least 11 pupils before killing himself.

Rio state health secretary Sergio Cortes said ten girls and one boy were killed, adding that at least 18 other people, mostly pupils were hurt and taken to local hospitals. At least four were in a serious condition. Helicopters landed on a nearby sports field to ferry to wounded to hospital.

A police spokeswoman said the gunman had been identified as Wellington Oliveira, 23, a former student at the Tasso da Silveira school, which is in a working-class neighbourhood in western Rio. Authorities said he left a rambling and mostly incoherent letter at the scene indicating he wanted to kill himself.

Rio is a city rife with drug-gang violence in its vast slums, but school shootings are rare. The gunman had no criminal history, police chief Martha Rocha told a news conference.

She said he walked into the school with two firearms and an ammunition belt. He fired at least 30 rounds.

About 400 people were inside the school when the shooting began, at about 8:30am local time. The school serves children from aged six to 13.

Two young boys, at least one with a gunshot wound, ran up to two police officers on patrol about two blocks away from the school as the shooting started.

The two officers ran to the school. At least one quickly located the gunman on the second floor and traded shots with him.

"He saw me and aimed a gun at me," said officer Marcio Alves. "I shot him in the legs, he fell down the stairs and then shot himself in the head."

Rio's mayor Eduardo Paes said: "This day would have been so much worse if it weren't for the hero policeman."

The school has been closed temporarily while authorities investigate the incident.

Rio governor Sergio Cabral said: "We have to investigate where he got the weapons and where he learned to use them."

Terrified parents rushed to the school on hearing of the incident. TV footage showed them crying and screaming for information about their children.

Zilda Nunes, 67, who lives across the street from the school, said three of her grandchildren were inside when the shooting began.

"There were so many children shot, so much blood," she said. "People were asking for help, but what could I do?"

Wanderson Barbosa, 11, a pupil at the school, said he was in his classroom when he heard a commotion. He thought students elsewhere were fighting, but said his teacher told the kids to lie down on the floor because there was gunfire.

"I'm so worried. We don't have news of everybody yet," he said. Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, attending an event in the capital, Brasilia, lamented the deaths of "defenceless children".

"I ask for one minute of silence for these children who were taken so early from their life," she said, her voice cracking and eyes welling with tears.

"It's not in the nature of our nation to have these types of crimes."