BRAZIL: An ex-student who attacked two schools in Brazil with a semiautomatic handgun and a revolver, killing three people and injuring 13, had a swastika pinned to his vest and had been plotting the crimes for two years, according to authorities.
In the small town of Aracruz, in the eastern Brazilian state of Espirito Santo, the gunshots happened on Friday at a public school with elementary and middle school children and a private school, all of which were located on the same street. A pupil, two teachers, and both were slain.
Renato Casagrande, the governor of Esprito Santo, reported that the gunman, a 16-year-old student who had previously attended the state school, had been detained by police four hours later. The name of the suspect was withheld by the authorities.
According to the authorities, the adolescent used his family’s automobile to go between his two schools while covering the licence plate with a cloth.
According to Márcio Celante, the public security secretary of Esprito Santo, security camera footage showed him wearing a bulletproof vest. After breaching a lock, the gunman in the public school was able to enter the teachers’ lounge.
According to Casagrande, the revolver was a personal firearm registered in the name of the boy’s father, a military police officer, while the semiautomatic weapon belonged to the military police.
The shooter is being held in a prison for juvenile offenders. Attacks on schools are rare in Brazil, but they have become more common in recent years.
In August, a former pupil in Vitória, a city not distant from the scene of Friday’s attacks, stormed his school armed with homemade explosives and knives. Both teachers and students were unharmed.
A month later, a different kid shot and killed a student in a wheelchair in the northeastern state of Bahia while using his father’s gun.
Police eventually discovered that both assailants had met in online chat forums.
Police claim that because their inquiries are still in the early stages, they are unable to draw any firm conclusions about the causes of Friday’s shootings. They said, however, that the attacker was donning military-style attire and a swastika.
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