12 children killed in Brazil school shooting

Almaty. April 8. Kazakhstan Today - The gunman who allegedly opened fire in a Rio de Janeiro school this morning killed 12 children before shooting himself, officials said, Kazakhstan Today reports.

The death toll from a school shooting in Brazil has risen to 12, officials say, The Australian reported.

The gunman, Wellington Menezes de Oliveira, shot dead 12 children and wounded 11 others - many in the head - and only stopped firing in the rampage at his old primary school in Rio de Janeiro when he was shot in the leg by a police officer and turned one of his revolvers on himself, officials said.

Earlier, it was reported that Mr Menezes de Oliveira shot dead 10 children, but the toll was later clarified as 11 dead, before the death of a 13-year-old boy in hospital raised the toll to 12.

The boy, only identified with the initials IMS, was admitted to a local hospital but died later, health authorities told the O Globo newspaper.

The Associated Press reports 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, said her mother. Crying as she spoke, Machado wondered if her daughter would ever be able to return to school - or walk.

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 rambling and mostly incoherent letter at the scene indicating he wanted to kill himself.

The letter also explained in detail how Oliveira wanted his corpse to be cared for - bathed and wrapped in a white sheet that he left in a bag in the first room where he said he would start shooting. The letter also states that the gunman should not be touched by anyone who is "impure" unless they wear gloves.

"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, portions of which were posted on the Globo television network's website.

Edmar Peixoto, the deputy mayor of western Rio, said the letter also stated the gunman was infected with the AIDS virus.

The public school was in the midst of celebrating its 40th anniversary, and students' handmade posters commemorating the day could be seen through school windows.

Rio Police Chief Martha Rocha said that when Oliveira first entered the school he told staff members he was there to give a lecture.

Shortly afterward, he opened fire. Rocha said he was carrying two pistols and an ammunition belt. He fired off at least 30 rounds.

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

About 400 people were inside the school when the shooting began about 8:30 a.m. local time (7:30 a.m. EDT, 1130 GMT). The school serves grades one through eight.

"He had already killed a lot of children in the first floor and in the yard," she told the Globo television network. "He kept telling the kids to face the wall and was shooting at their heads. The children kept begging, 'No, please!' There was a lot of blood, children agonizing on the stairs."

Ramos said she escaped by running into a classroom, where a teacher then locked the door and barricaded it with tables.

Police were alerted to the shooting when two young boys, at least one with a gunshot wound, ran up to two officers on patrol about two blocks away. The officers sprinted to the school and at least one quickly located the gunman on the second floor and traded shots with him.

Authorities closed the school temporarily while they investigate, but Paes said it would reopen.

Photo: AP

This information may not be reproduced without reference to Kazakhstan Today. Copyright of materials of News Agency Kazakhstan Today.