School attack gunmen kill 5 pupils in Brazil

MASKED gunmen stormed a school yesterday and shot dead five children who were on their snack break.

Two school officials were also murdered before the killers – both former pupils – turned their guns on themselves, police in Brazil said.

The unidentified men, who were aged 17 and 25, killed a worker at a nearby car wash before the attack at Raul Brasil school in Sao Paulo.

Another 17 people – mostly pupils – were injured, several of whom are seriously ill.

Marcelo Salles, commander of police forces in Sao Paulo state, said the pair used at least one .38 calibre pistol, along with homemade bombs and a crossbow.

Security cameras near the school, which caters for pupils aged 11 to 16, showed children climbing and jumping over a wall which surrounds the building and sprinting down streets, screaming for help.

The men entered the building and started shooting at 9.30am local time.

The attack came on the anniversary of the Dunblane school massacre in Scotland when 16 children and one teacher were shot dead on March 13, 1996.