A 14-year-old student gunned down three of his classmates before turning the gun on himself in a horrifying school shooting in northeast Brazil.
Samuel Andrade was sitting at his desk at the Dom Pedro I Municipal School in the municipality of Heliópolis on Friday afternoon when he began firing at the students in class, the Bahia Civil Police said. Andrade then shot himself.
The Bahia Civil Police identified the victims, all aged 15, as Jonathan dos Santos, Fernanda Gama and Adriele Ferreira.
A teacher and nine students who were in the room at the time of the shooting were not injured.
Police chief Thiago Cunha said investigators interviewed Andrade’s father, who said he did not know how his son obtained the .38 caliber revolver used in the shooting.
‘The father’s statement was very brief and did not provide any specific details about the ownership of the weapon,’ Cunha said Saturday. ‘He said he did not understand how the teenager had access to the weapon.’
Cunha added that investigators recovered the weapon, but that it was too early to say who the owner was.
Authorities seized Andrade’s cellphone and a laptop in the hope of learning a motive.
Gama’s mother, Elisangela de Sousa, told Brazilian media outlet BNews said that the shooter was friends with her daughter and the other two victims.
‘They were friends, very good friends indeed. In fact, they were at church every Sunday. They were Confirmation students,’ de Sousa said. She added of the shooter: ‘Samuel, I don’t hate him.’
The Bahia state government said psychologists and social workers would be dispatched Monday to provide support to the students and teacher who witnessed the shooting.
The Heliópolis municipal government and education department issued a joint statement vowing to ensure a ‘healthy, welcoming and safe’ environment for students and staffers.
