Brazil: Former student shoots boy dead after entering school

A former student entered a school and opened fire in the southern Brazilian state of Parana on Monday, killing a 15-year-old girl and seriously wounding another teenager, a city spokesman told The Associated Press by telephone.

The attacker, a 20- or 21-year-old man, entered Professor Helena Collodi Public School to retrieve some documents, spokesman Diego Mosini said.

Upon entering the school, the man fired at least a dozen rounds before a staff member stopped him, Mosini said. Mosini said the attacker was arrested.

The seriously injured 14-year-old student has been hospitalized in a critical condition.

Images circulating on television and social media showed dozens of students gathered in front of the school, some crying, as an ambulance pulled up to the gate.

Brazil has had nearly two dozen attacks or episodes of violence in schools since 2000, half of them in the past 14 months.

On April 5, a man attacked a daycare center, killing four children and prompting the government to launch an unprecedented campaign. Some 3,400 police officers carried out nationwide raids to arrest hundreds of people accused of inciting hate speech or school violence.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on his official Twitter account on Monday: “Another young life taken by hate and violence, we can no longer tolerate it in our schools and society.”

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