Rio school shooting leaves up to 20 children dead

[Bosonic]

Source: Guardian

Witnesses tell how gunman opened fire on pupils at Tasso da Silveira primary school in Rio de Janeiro

As many as 20 people are feared dead after a gunman invaded a primary school in Rio de Janeiro and opened fire.

One witness told the Guardian he had seen between 15 and 20 children dead or seriously wounded inside the Tasso da Silveira primary school in western Rio.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/07/rio-de-janeiro-school-shooting

[xchrom]

1. frightening and sad. nt

[go west young man]

2. Quote from the article.

"I've never seen anything like this. It's like something from the United States." That says a lot about how the world see's us.
My thoughts go out to the young victims, their family's and friends. So sad.

[Jefferson23]

4. I just posted the same thing, jumps off the page doesn't it? n/t

[efhmc]

10. The guns were probably made in the USA.

[stockholmer]

20. Taurus, in Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul), is one of the biggest gun makers in the world

import duties on most goods (not just guns) in Brasil are very very high, so they make a lot of things internally.

[efhmc]

25. It was kind of a philosophical response about our gun

culture, but it is good to know the facts.

[gejohnston]

22. doubt it

they have their own industry and export to us.

[efhmc]

27. Thanks for the information.

[AtheistCrusader]

28. Look at that knee, jerking.

[Jefferson23]

3. Horrific event and such a chilling comment .

"I've never seen anything like this. It's like something in the United States."

[stockholmer]

23. in regards to "It's like something in the United States",have a hard time believing a Brasilian said

this. As bad as the violence is in the US, compared to say, Sweden, etc, it is SO MUCH worse in Brasil. Even in the rich neighborhoods, people are worried often of being kidnapped simply driving their cars into the garage of their homes. Violence permeates the culture, and has created a fatalistic approach to life, where many just live for the moment.

[Jefferson23]

35. And I imagine the individual is well aware of that, the remark seems to be more about the type

of crime..thus, like the US.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

44. That is correct. See #42. -nt

[defendandprotect]

50. Where you see violence, you know the right wing has risen -- and guns damage society..

True whether Rio, Brazil or America --

[IScreamSundays]

62. Do they have school shootings like the US?

Could be what he was referring to.

[TheMadMonk]

69. Yes and no. Brutal as it is, virtually all of the violence in Brazil...

...has a certain equally brutal rhyme and reason. Profit, jealousy, revenge, leverage.

Shooting up a classroom full of children is the sort of sensless violence which America has become renowned for around the world.

[hack89]

31. Their murder rate is five times America's

talk about a disconnect between emotions and reality.

[Jefferson23]

33. Why don't you look at what was said, there is no mention there crime

rate is lower than ours. It is the type of crime, we have plenty of that type here.

The disconnect is all yours btw.

[hack89]

38. Our crime rates are at historic lows and still declining

what I do know for a fact is that I have never been safer my entire life.

There is no place in America as violent as Rio - their murder rate is 10 times America's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Brazilian_states_by_murder_rate

[Jefferson23]

39. Again, this has nothing to do with the comment that was made in the OP.

[Angry Dragon]

5. "I've never seen anything like this. It's like something in the United States."

And people say we don't export enough

We teach people how to become terrorists, we export our blood lust, we export jobs, we sell arms to anyone who wants them.

What more could anyone ask of this great nation..............

[Rebubula]

6. LOLZ

Yeah...because Rio has no violence except what they learn from us.

The whole world is a violent cesspool and always has been. The US just has the greatest visibility thanks to 24 hour news stations and Hollywood.

[roguevalley]

9. didn't brazil have death squads that used to kill homeless children

to keep things nice for tourism. I remember something like that. Its awful no matter how you slice it but they have this history so maybe someone decided to do the same. the police used to kill homeless children if memory serves.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

11. Don't remind them

They have to clean things up again when the 2016 Olympics. I'm betting on "camps" set up near non-venue cities, or in the remote areas.

Tourists will not have to see the homeless.

[HEyHEY]

17. I believe that was a one time thing.

To clear out the front of one particular square. I'm not justifying it, just saying I think that only happened once.

[stockholmer]

21. not a one time thing, happens weekly,even daily,just not at that scale,go on Brasil sites,its horrid

[Mnemosyne]

30. They sure did, rogue. I think it was mid-eighties, iirc. Horrific. K&R n/t

[Jefferson23]

12. I doubt the individual making the comment believes no violence exists in Rio. Yet the event

is too common place in the US..thus his remarks.

[hack89]

36. The big differences are

that it happens much more frequently in Brazil. And violent crime and murder are at historic lows in America and still declining. If you were born after 1960 you have never been safer in your entire life.

[Jefferson23]

37. WE have mass shootings that impact children, the comment does not indicate

nor suggest we are the influence..that was my point.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

47. Yeah, this is lolz worthy. Indeed.

:eyes:

[gejohnston]

24. Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Like we have police death squads mowing down homeless people, which I doubt make the statistics. A quick look at comparing homicide (not "gun deaths") rates, Brazil is 20 per 100,000 while we are five and Japan is 1.2.
In other words, they make us look like Japan.

[-..__...]

26. What fucking pinhead said that?

:wtf:

CRIME: Crime throughout Brazil has reached very high levels. Brazilian police and media report that the crime rate continues to rise, especially in the major urban centers – though it is also spreading in rural areas. Brazil’s murder rate is more than four times higher than that of the U.S. Rates for other crimes are similarly high. The majority of crimes are not solved.


U.S. citizens should use caution with regard to nighttime travel through more rural areas and satellite cities due to reported incidents of roadside robberies that randomly target passing vehicles. Robberies and “quicknappings” outside of banks and ATM machines are common. In a “quicknapping,” criminals abduct victims for a short time in order to receive a quick payoff from the family, business or the victim’s ATM card. Some victims have been beaten and/or raped. Carjacking is on the increase in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Recife and other cities.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1072.html#crime

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

42. Yes, we have lots of gun violence.

BUT nutcases going into a school and shooting people out of the blue for no reason really IS typical of the US and unheard of here. The comparison is apt.

What's typical here is gang wars. Very different thing.

[Jefferson23]

49. Yep and thanks Commie. n/t

[Remmah2]

52. Factbox: school shootings worldwide

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Factbox+school+shootings+worldwide/4575919/story.html

The following are the worst mass shootings in schools and universities around the world, after a man opened fire in a school in Rio de Janeiro Thursday, killing 10 people before taking his own life.


The list does not include deaths resulting from guerrilla actions, such as the slaughter of 186 children and 146 adults at a school in Beslan, Russia in September 2004.


March 13, 1996 - Scotland


A deranged gun collector kills 16 children aged four to six and their teacher at a school in Dunblane, Scotland. He then kills himself.


April 20, 1999 - United States


Two youths aged 17 and 18 armed with guns and more than 30 home-made bombs kill 12 students and a teacher at Columbine high school in Littleton, Colorado before they both commit suicide.


April 26, 2002 - Germany


16 people, including 12 teachers and two students, are gunned down at a school in Erfurt in eastern Germany by a 19-year-old former student, apparently in revenge for having been expelled.


April 16, 2007 - United States


A South Korean student kills 32 people on his campus at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. He then kills himself.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

53. delete

wrong place

[Remmah2]

55. List of school-related attacks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school-related_attacks

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

57. WTF is wrong with China? Fuck!

[Taverner]

7. Where is our resident Brazilian?

Commie Pinko Dirtbag?

Be interesting to hear his perspective

[florida08]

8. Dear God

"I've never seen anything like this. It's like something in the United States." Now there's a legacy for you. Am so sorry for the victims and families. Horrific accounting. Shooter only 24. This is not the influence our country should be having on the world.

[MellowDem]

13. It's not the US's fault or influence...

as much as some people in the article on here want to try to make it be so. All that shows is incredible simple-mindedness and naivety, not to mention wanting to ignore the real causes.

[kurtzapril4]

14. It's not about the influence of the US

Its about the fact that this happens IN the US quite frequently.

[MellowDem]

15. It does...

relative to other countries. That doesn't mean when it does happen in other countries it is the US's fault or due to US influence. Brazil has its own crappy problems that rarely happen in the US, but when they do, I doubt we blame Brazil for it.

[Jefferson23]

19. I don't see where you get the remark suggests this happened due to our influence.

The comment seems more about where you see this too often..and we do see it here.

[FourScore]

32. They said, "It's like..." not "It's because..."

Nobody is blaming us. They are just comparing it to here.

[octothorpe]

43. It's like if there a bus bombing in the US and someone said "It's like something from Israel"

I don't think the person who said it meant it was the US' fault. I did read at least two people here make comments that came off as pointing the fault at the US though.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

45. That's EXACTLY it. -nt

[FourScore]

60. delete

[defendandprotect]

51. It's a comment on the deterioration of our society -- by violence/guns -- as the rightwing rises!!

[zanana1]

16. I guess you could say they're becoming...

"Westernized"

[reformist2]

48. That's what I thought - is this kind of thing a "1st world" problem, or am I mistaken?

[stockholmer]

18. Brasil is a brutal country,'lost bullets', robberies, etc, kill thousands(rich and poor) each year

I was at the home (extremely posh) in Ipanema of a US embassy sr official several years ago, and a lost bullet shattered one of the windows in a bedroom. The Brasilians hardly batted an eye, and told us horror stories for the next hour of all the deaths of friends and relatives at the hands of robbers, gangs, stray random bullets, and drunk drivers.

[-..__...]

29. Anyone who wants to dispute that should read/watch "City of God"...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_God_%282002_film%29

A friend of mine is half Brazilian.

He gos down there every few years to visit relatives.

Some of the story's about the shit he's seen and what gos on is nerve rattling.

U.S. blame and influence, my ass. :eyes:

Some people here really need to pull their heads from their ass and step away from the keyboard.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

58. That's what widespread poverty will give you.

And if you go down to even poorer countries, it gets worse and worse.

[-..__...]

34. Gun crime in Brazil...

Some 39,000 people died in 2003 due to gun-related injuries nationwide.<2> In 2004, the number was 36,000.<1> Although Brazil has 110 million fewer citizens than the United States, and more restrictive gun laws, there are 50% more gun deaths;<6> other sources indicate that homicide rates due to guns are approximately four times higher than the rate in the United States.<7> Brazil has the second largest arms industry in the Western Hemisphere.<7> Approximately 80 percent of the weapons manufactured in Brazil are exported, mostly to neighboring countries; many of these weapons are then smuggled back into Brazil.<7> Some firearms in Brazil come from police and military arsenals, having either been "stolen or sold by corrupt soldiers and officers."<7>

[Swede]

40. Truly horrible.

DUers bickering about who what where stats should just stop for a second.

[Blue_Tires]

41. Criminal psychology is an amateur interest of mine

but I'll NEVER want to know what's inside the mind of a man who can look in the eyes of a bunch of 12-year-olds and gun them down...

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

46. 11 dead, 13 wounded (4 of which at risk) according to O Globo.

He shot TWENTY-FOUR PEOPLE. With two guns. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

54. The murderer left a note. Take a look at the translation. I am not making this up.

If anybody thinks I am making this up, here's the image and the translation. Anybody who knows Portuguese will tell you this is accurate.

"First, you must know that the impure shall not touch me without gloves, only the chaste or those who lost their chastity after marriage and didn't get involved in adultery shall touch me without gloves, that means, no fornicator or adulterer shall get into direct contact with me, nor anything impure shall touch my blood, no impure person can have direct contact with a virgin without their permission, those responsible for my burial shall take away my clothes, bathe me, dry me, and wrap me completely undressed in a white sheet that is in this building, in a bag I left in the first room of the first floor, after wrapping me in the sheet you can put me in my coffin. If possible, I want to be buried besides the grave where my mother sleeps. My mother is called <NAME> and is buried in the Murundu cemetery. I need a visit by a faithful follower of God at my grave at least once, I need him to pray by my grave asking God for forgiveness for what I have done, begging that Jesus, when he comes, wakes me from the sleep of death to life."

Source: http://g1.globo.com/Tragedia-em-Realengo/noticia/2011/04/leia-trecho-da-carta-do-atirador-que-invadiu-escola-no-rj.html

[Turbineguy]

56. So it is

a lot like the US after all.

[nalnn]

59. From a São Paulo source

UOL Notícias: English translation:

Sister shooter says he was connected to Islam and did not leave too far from home, he left suicide note

In an interview with Radio Band News from Rio de Janeiro, Roselane, the foster sister of the shooter Wellington Menezes de Oliveira, 24, said he was very attached to Islam, do not go far from home and stayed the entire time on the computer.


"It was very strange, had no friends, lived on the Internet, " said his sister. "He speaks of a Muslim business. " She said he lived alone for eight months, at a place near the school in the district of the Royal one. The boy's adoptive parents have died.

Oliveira, who was an alumnus of the school and would have gone to school to get documents, invaded early on Thursday (7) a classroom of the school hall Tasso da Silveira, at Rua General Bernardino de Matos, Realengo zone west of Rio de Janeiro. He fired several times against the students.

According to the Fire Department, 22 people were injured, 10 seriously, and at least 13 people died including the gunman. According to the Military Police, he shot himself in the head. He would have used .38-caliber revolver. Two guns were used.

In an interview with Globo News, Colonel Djalma Beltrame, commander of 14 Battalion (Bangor), confirmed that Oliveira left a letter indicating that he intended to kill himself. "It was a premeditated act, " said Beltrame.

According to the colonel, the letter was "confusing" and submit content "Islamic fundamentalist ".

---END--

Sounds like the guy was a mental case.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

61. The letter above (#54) doesn't look very Islamic to me.

Although he may have been making a salad of fundamentalisms in his sick head. I don't know.

[IScreamSundays]

63. no not one bit

"...I need a visit by a faithful follower of God at my grave at least once, I need him to pray by my grave asking God for forgiveness for what I have done, begging that Jesus, when he comes, wakes me from the sleep of death to life."

Why couldn't he just kill himself. Why did he have to kill kids.

[nalnn]

64. Yeah

I don't think he ascribed himself to Islam (I could be wrong, I don't read Portuguese). The article mostly quotes others trying to pin some sort of Islamic Fundamentalism to this horrible person. Not unlike other places I could mention. People everywhere always looking to excuse or explain terrible acts committed by mentally ill people. Of course, we don't even know that much yet.

?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

65. That is just baffling. There's no Muslim community in Rio to speak of.

I'm tentatively going with the "fanaticism smorgasbord" hypothesis, for now.

[nalnn]

66. Not many, but a few

locations and prayer times

[daleo]

67. So sad

Psychos seem to have targeted school children (or young adults) in many countries - U.S., Canada, Scotland, to name a few. Something about children draws the resentment of a certain type of psychotic.

[Zax2me]

68. "..references to Islamic fundamentalism...got closer to Islam"

http://www.guelphmercury.com/news/world/article/513603--at-least-11-dead-in-massacre-at-rio-de-janeiro-school
In recent months, she said, he appeared to have got closer to Islam.

Beltrami described the letter as “the words of a person who no longer believes in anything, full of sentences that made no sense and references to Islamic fundamentalism.”