Brazil Shooter Kills 10 Children at Rio de Janeiro School

Relatives of a victim of the shooting at a school in the neigborhood of Realengo, stand outside a hospital in Rio de Janeiro. Photographer: Vanderlei Almeida/AFP/Getty Images)

At least 10 children were killed and 17 injured when a man opened fire in a Rio de Janeiro elementary public school this morning. The attacker killed himself as police searched the school.
Wellington Menezes de Oliveira, a 23-year-old former student, carried out the attack at the Tasso da Silveira Municipal School in Realengo, on the western outskirts of Rio, police Colonel Djalma Beltrame told Globo TV. He used two revolvers after gaining access to the school by posing as a lecturer, Beltrame said. At least nine girls and one boy died, Globo said, without disclosing their ages.
“It was a premeditated act,” Beltrame said.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said she was “shocked” by the killing and ordered Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo to work with local authorities on the case. Rousseff cried as she asked for a minute of silence for the victims at an event in Brasilia today.
Oliveira gained access to classrooms after telling a teacher who recognized him that he was going to take part in a series of lectures by former students to celebrate the school’s anniversary today, Rio Police Chief Martha Rocha said at a news conference.
An injured student escaped from the building and called police patrolling the area, Beltrame said. The killer shot himself after police caught him leaving one classroom and heading toward another, he said. A suicide note was found at the school, Beltrame said.
Rio’s state governor, Sergio Cabral, pledged assistance to the family of victims and the surviving children at a news conference in the city.
Officials at the press offices of Rio’s military and civil police departments said they had no further information.