Thursday, April 7, 2011

8 Children Dead in Rio de Janeiro School Shooting

Plaça de Realengo

Rio de Janeiro is now among the list of cities who have experienced the tragedy of a school shooting.

Today, Wellington Menezes de Oliveira entered into the public school of Realengo in the West Zone and shot around 100 times. 8 children have died and 15 were injured.

A Father of a student was quoted as saying "As crianças da escola disseram que realmente um grande banho de sangue. Foi horrível"

Translation: "The children of the school said that it was a true blood bath. It was horrible!"

Oliveira was killed in a standoff with police. Authorities say that the ex-student of the school snuck his way in this morning. A side story states that he may have been a Father of a child that is a victim of bullying.

This is a very sad day in Rio de Janeiro. My thoughts, prayers, and heart goes out to the families of the victims, the children of the school, and the community as a whole.

What is this world coming to?

The original article in Portuguese: http://odia.terra.com.br/portal/rio/html/2011/4/autoridades_confirmam_mortes_de_criancas_apos_invasao_de_escola_em_realengo_156200.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

UPDATE: 

The numbers have varied but it is said that there are at least 13 confirmed deaths and 22 wounded at the shooting at the public middle school. The gunman was killed by his own hand. 

Dilma Rousseff, at an event in Brasilia, was quoted as saying: "This type of crime is not characteristic of our country, that is why I think we are all united in condemning this act of violence, this type of violence, especially against defenseless children."

Life Magazine's coverage: http://www.life.com/gallery/58981/the-rio-de-janeiro-school-massacre#index/0


15 comments:

  1. I used to think that this kind of sociopathic violence was the hallmark of US American whackos.

    Sigh - the cancer is spreading.

    Horrible.

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  2. sick. I dont understand. there has to be better options.

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  3. This is a tragedy! Our prayers go out to the families who lost loved ones.
    I truly think Rio should be declared a "GUNS FREE ZONE", no more guns period.
    I am sure drugs must have played a huge role in this episode.

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  4. Even more deaths have been confirmed and pictures have been released. It's so sad. I hope you are wrong Jim. I really hope this is some isolated incident and the Cancer, in fact, is localized.

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  5. As a public school teacher, I have to admit that this is always in the back of my mind. But I also thought that it was a problem that occurred in the U.S. I'm extremely saddened to have read this in the news today.

    This senseless killing (of children at that) is horrific!

    My thoughts and prayers are with the children, parents, teachers, and community.

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  6. This is so horrible! :'( Those poor victims, their families, and traumatized young witnesses are in my prayers.

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  7. This sucks. I feel so sorry for all of the families who have suffered.

    Ray - Rio is a virtual "legally owned gun free" zone. To legally own a firearm in Rio is extremely difficult and very expensive (I've looked into importing all of mine from the states). No amount of laws or restrictions will ever stop the criminal ownership of weapons.

    I hope this never happens again here in Rio.

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  8. Greg,

    I have to agree with you that it would be a hell of an up hill battle.
    Now that we now more of the facts, the guy was mentally chalenged, his mother was mentally chalenged and his mental illness was never treated...too sad...Hope it never happens again.


    Ray

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  9. So incredibly sad news. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims, the families and their communities.

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  10. My husband's family called him this morning to tell him what had happened. We cried. It's just such a terrible thing.

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  11. Immitation behaviour. A looser copies the behaviour of other loosers. Maybe mental problems as well ? Also in Europe, a couple of years ago a guy with a knife entered in a child care in a small village in Belgium and killed one group leader (20y. old) and several babies. (NOTE: Somehow rich European countries do not let this kind of news leak to outside). Here in Holland during many years (almost a decade) divorced men who have problems relating to the divorce and a bad contact with the ex kill themselves and the kids. Every year there is a couple of cases like that in the NL. The last one killed the kids, their dogs, his (ex)mother-in-law and then himself. He left his (ex) wife completely alone in the world. A psychologist on a magazine stated that "many divorced men do not know how to communicate their feelings and women are getting too independent". ***Sight***

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  12. @Anita: You are right, this thing does happen all over the world but the spotlight is almost always on the US when it happens. This morning I was watching the news and all I heard from the talking heads was, "United States this... United States that...". A gun is just a tool, so is a hammer, a knife or a car. All can be used to kill but you don't see people trying to outlaw those, right? Guns are not the problem. Criminals, outlaws and mentally deranged people with access to them are the problem.

    @Greg: "No amount of laws or restrictions will ever stop the criminal ownership of weapons." Certainly true. I can't speak for the Brazilian justice system with relation to gun laws because I don't know enough about it yet, but take the US for example. There are litteraly thousands of laws already on the books with relation to gun laws. Hardly any are enforced. But the gun-grabbing, anti-Second Amendment goons want to add more laws and restrict my lawful right to protect my life and family. I carry a gun because a police officer is too heavy! With the addition of even more restrictive gun laws, all it affects are the law-abiding people and never the criminal. Since when did a criminal ever care about a law?? They will always have access to a weapon, but I will be forced to be disarmed and become easy prey. I think not...

    -Chris
    www.floridaguyinbrazil.com

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  13. A (white) Dutch guy opened fire with an automatic gun in a shopping mall last Saturday (April 9th), killing 7 people and hurting 22. Then (of course) he killed him self. Haven't we hard similar to that before ?
    Where was it ? Alphen aan de Rijn, Holland. Did you hear about it ? Probably NOT. Only when it is USA (or Brazil) you get plenty of info about it. So I give you the link: http://oglobo.globo.com/mundo/mat/2011/04/10/policia-investiga-motivos-que-levaram-atentado-em-shopping-da-holanda-924199959.asp

    The following day in the NL there was not a single line about it on the press. They put a lid on everything that can damage the "Doll's House" image of the country (just like Switzerland and Belgium do it soooo well).

    P.S.: I know this comment of mine is a bit out of the context of your post but it is just to compare how different media in different countries work...

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  14. Actually, my husband read about that yesterday. i can't remember where...

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