School shootings in Brazil leave three dead and 11 injured.

 

The site of the attack. DW/AFP.

A pair of school shootings in Brazil has left three people dead and 11 injured. DW. The attack occurred in the small town of Aracruz, in Espirito Santo State. The gunman first attacked a public school and then moved to a private school across the street. Two were killed and nine were wounded in the first attack while one person was killed and two wounded at the second. The attacker was armed with a pistol and had body armor. He was arrested after the attack and police have identified him as a 16 year old who was undergoing psychiatric treatment. School shootings are uncommon in Brazil but not unheard of. 

BRASIL: Imagens mostram o momento em que um homem entra na escola de Aracruz.

2 professores e 1 aluno foram mortos.

Segundo a polícia, o homem continua foragido e armado. pic.twitter.com/iUrLCSjIK2

— Renan Brites Peixoto (@RenanPeixoto_) November 25, 2022

My Comment:

A quick note on the firearm. The media is saying the gun is a semi auto while it appears the attacker is using a large bore revolver. It's hard to be 100% sure given the quality of the video, but it sure appears like his firearm has a cylinder, which means it isn't a semi auto. Why is that important? Because it shows that even if you were to ban semi autos you would still have mass shootings. 

What is kind of shocking from an American context is that we actually have video of the attacker. Generally speaking in the United States most video evidence of these crimes is never released, which leads to conspiracy theories that the attack never happened. In Brazil I have noticed that there is often video released which means those conspiracy theories don't really happen. Regardless, it's very rare to see video of a school shooting in progress. 

It seems that these schools were largely empty when the attacker came in. This probably reduced the death count considerably. It's unclear why the video shows so few people in the school, but I am guessing that the video is from the 2nd school and most people evacuated after the first shooting. I could be wrong about that though. 

I try not to give too much coverage to mass shootings unless there is something vital to say as I have long suspected that news coverage of these events inspire copycats. But in this case I think it's worthy to write about due to the fact that not only was this attack on video, it also shows that the rest of the world has a problem with mass shootings as well. It also shows that Brazil's restrictive gun laws didn't do a thing to stop this shooting. 

As for the motive of the attacker, it probably doesn't matter. We all have seen enough of these attacks that we could probably write a profile of him ourselves. There is a small possibility that the attacker was upset about the recent election in Brazil, and if that is the case it will be a political mess, but I am guessing it was just another disgruntled teenager. The fact that news media is reporting he was in treatment for mental health issues greatly supports that interpretation.