Student, teacher die in Mexico school shooting

A student and teacher were killed at an elementary school in northern Mexico Friday, when the 11-year-old opened fire on his teacher and classmates with two guns, authorities said.

Coahuila state Gov. Miguel Angel Riquelme said the sixth-grade shooter and his teacher died.

The preliminary investigation showed that the student arrived at his classroom, told a classmate, “Today is the day,” and asked permission to go to the bathroom, Riquelme said. After 15 minutes he had not returned and his teacher went to look for him. He emerged from the bathroom firing two guns. The shooting ended when he shot himself, he said.

Among the wounded were five students and a gym teacher, Riquelme said.

The governor said the shooter lived with his grandparents and that his mother had died some years ago. He said the boy had not presented behavioural problems before in the school. Investigators were looking into reports that the boy was influenced by a particular video game.

Images from the scene showed worried parents arriving at Colegio Cervantes to pick up their children Friday morning. It is a private school in downtown Torreon across the street from a large park.

The school participates in a state program called “Safe Backpack” in which school personnel search each child’s backpack when they arrive at school. Torreon is an industrial city with foreign assembly plants.