Three killed and 11 injured in twin school shootings in Brazil

BRASILIA: At least three people including an adolescent girl were killed and 11 others wounded when a 16-year-old shooter wearing Nazi symbols opened fire on two schools in southeastern Brazil, officials said.

Authorities in the city of Aracruz, in Espirito Santo state, said the shooter fired on teachers at his former school, killing two people and leaving nine others wounded.

He then went to a nearby private school where he killed an adolescent girl and wounded two other people, officials said.

Authorities have arrested the shooter, said Governor Renato Casagrande.

“He was a student at (the first) school until June, a 16-year-old minor. His family then transferred him to another school. We have information he was undergoing psychiatric treatment,” he said.

Security camera footage aired on Brazilian media showed the shooter running into the school dressed in military-style camouflage and brandishing a gun. He then sprinted through the hallways, sending staff fleeing in terror as he began firing.

Investigators said he had a swastika on his fatigues and that they were looking into whether he had links to extremist organisations.

Officials said the shooter, a policeman’s son, used two handguns in the attack, both registered to his father – one his service firearm, the other a private weapon.

Casagrande said the boy appeared to have planned the attack, breaking in through a locked door and skirting the school’s security guard.

He then entered the teachers’ lounge and opened fire, the governor said.

“He was looking to shoot people. He opened fire on the first people he came across,” he said.