Deadly school shooting in Brazil

Former student opens fire in school in Rio de Janeiro, killing 12 people before taking his own life, authorities say.

A gunman opened fire on children inside Tasso da Silveira school in Realengo in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday [Reuters]
A man believed to be a former student has opened fire in a school in the city of Rio de Janeiro, killing 12 people and wounding 22 others before taking his own life, authorities said.
The victims included students and staff at the public school in the western Realengo neighbourhood.
"It is not known why he fired"
Colonel Ibis Pereira,
Rio military police spokesman
"The information we have is that the number of fatalities is 13, and some 22 wounded, including gunshot wounds to the head," Colonel Evandro Bezerra, a fire department spokesman, told Brazil's TV Globo News.
He identified the shooter as 24-year-old Wellington Menezes de Oliveira, who was believed to be a former student at the school. Police said he left a letter saying he wanted to commit suicide.
Thursday's incident happened shortly after 10:00am local time (1300GMT) in Rio, in the western part of the city, Al Jazeera's Gabriel Elizondo, reporting from the vicinity, said.
"What we know so far is apparently a man walked into a packed elementary school in the city of Rio de Janeiro and he opened fire," he said.
Exchange of gunfire
Initial reports said the gunman entered the school wearing a backpack and said he was going to a conference, before opening fire in a classroom.
"It is not known why he fired,'' Colonel Ibis Pereira, a spokesman for the Rio military police said.
Police exchanged gunfire with the assailant, who was carrying two guns and a suicide note, before he killed himself, another police official told local media.
The gunman told school officials he was there to make a speech, before opening fire on students, according to media reports.
TV Globo News showed images of the wounded being loaded into ambulances at the public school in the western Rio neighbourhood.
"There is a football field very near the school where helicopters from the police are landing there to pick up injured people and transport them to area hospitals," our correspondent said.
Rio's government has in recent months made considerable advances against drug gangs that control vast areas of the city's slum communities but crime remains a problem in the beachside tourist haven.
Authorities have stepped up slum pacification efforts that have created a permanent police presence in poor neighbourhoods in hopes of tightening security in advance of the 2014 World Cup football championship and the 2016 Olympic Games.