Thursday, April 7, 2011

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Brazil's president announced three days of national mourning in the aftermath of a mass shooting at a Rio de Janeiro school, as the motive behind the killings remained unclear. A gunman opened fire Thursday inside the school, killing 11 students before taking his own life, officials said. Thirteen others were injured, four in critical condition, Rio Health Secretary Sergio Cortes said. "The greatest difficulty is the family's pain. It is very hard to identify a son or a daughter in a situation like this," Cortes said. "It's a state of general commotion here, families, doctors, everyone." The shooting happened at the Tasso da Silveira Municipal School in the western neighborhood of Realengo, a middle- and lower-middle-class area located between the Pedra Branca and Mendanha mountains. The school is now a crime scene, and will remain so for an undisclosed amount of time, police said. According to a military police officer, he was approached on the street two blocks from the school by a student who had been shot in the face. He asked for aid and said there was a shooter at the school. Police heard shots and found the gunman walking up the stairs to the third floor, the officer said. The man was identified as Wellington Menezes de Oliveira, 23, a former student at the school, the government said. He was allowed to enter the school by saying he was there to obtain transcripts. Police shot Menezes de Oliveira in the leg, causing him to fall on the stairs. At that point, the policeman said, the gunman shot himself in the head. According to CNN affiliate TV Record, Menezes de Oliveira entered the school in the morning armed with two handguns and began shooting at children and school personnel. There were reports that he had left a letter behind that mentioned he had HIV, Agencia Brasil said. Other details from the letter were not immediately disclosed. The government of Rio said they found no previous criminal record of Menezes de Oliveira. An amateur video posted on YouTube showed the police arriving at the school as onlookers watched from the front of the school. Repeated high-pitched screams can be heard as students begin sprinting out of the school in a line. One girl runs by with her shirt stained red around her abdomen. Another has what appears to be blood soaking her shoulder. The injured were transported to the Albert Schweitzer Hospital, where Agencia Brasil reported helicopters were waiting in an adjacent field, ready to transport the more seriously injured to other facilities. Police used some of those helicopters to move the victims, the government of Rio said. Rio de Janeiro's Hematology Institute, which coordinates the distribution of blood for transfusions, put out a call via Twitter for donations to the hospital. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said she was "shocked" by the attack and had "great concern" about the incident. She said mass shootings were rare in Brazil. "It's uncharacteristic for our country to have this type of crime," she said in a speech. "For that reason, I consider that all of us are united in rejecting this type of violence, especially against defenseless children." Rio's governor, Sergio Cabral, called the gunman a "psychopath." "I agree that we have an obligation to give solidarity and support to the families of the young victims of this psychopath," he said. The school where the shooting happened is a public school with about 800 students. Opinion: thta is very bad to de family of teh students because they dont deserve.

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