| Rio de Janeiro school shooting | |
|---|---|
 Tasso da Silveira Municipal School after the shooting | |
  Rio de Janeiro | |
| Location | Tasso da Silveira Municipal School (Escola Municipal Tasso da Silveira), Realengo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Coordinates | 22°53′02″S 43°25′03″W / 22.883834°S 43.417405°W |
| Date | 7 April 2011 8:30 – 8:42 (BRT (UTC-3)) |
Attack type | School shooting, mass shooting, mass murder, murder–suicide, shootout |
| Weapons |
|
| Deaths | 13 (including the perpetrator)[2] |
| Injured | 22[3] |
| Perpetrator | Wellington Menezes de Oliveira[1] |
| Motive | Possibly bullying or religious/philosophical fanaticism |
On the morning of 7 April 2011, 12 students aged between 13 and 15 years old were killed[4] and 22 others seriously wounded by Wellington Menezes de Oliveira, 23 years old, who entered the Tasso da Silveira Municipal School (Escola Municipal Tasso da Silveira), an elementary school in Realengo on the western fringe of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was armed with two revolvers. The killer was intercepted by the police, but committed suicide before being arrested. It was the first non-gang school shooting with a sizable number of casualties reported in Brazil.[2]
Although police found no concrete evidence of religious or political motives, texts found at Oliveira's home suggest that he was obsessed with terrorist acts and Islam, which he had converted to two years beforehand, after having been a Jehovah's Witness. In his last wishes, he requested to be buried following Islamic traditions, and asked Jesus for eternal life and "God's forgiveness for what I have done." According to his adoptive sister and a close colleague, the shooter was reserved and suffered from bullying.
- ^ a b Fick, Jeff (7 April 2011). "Rio School Shooting Shocks City". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 7 April 2011.
- ^ a b "Gunman fires inside Brazil school". BBC News. 7 April 2011. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
- ^ "Dez feridos em massacre da escola em Realengo continuam internados". O Estado de S. Paulo. April 11, 2011. Retrieved April 11, 2011.
- ^ "Brazil mourns Rio school shooting victims". BBC News. 8 April 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2011.