‘Bullied’ boy shoots dead two classmates

A young student at a private school in Brazil shot dead two children and wounded four more yesterday, the emergency services said.
There were conflicting reports from the authorities about the ages of those involved.
US-style school shootings are rare in Brazil.
All the victims were 12 or 13 years old, police and the fire department in the central city of Goiana said initially.
However, police investigators said the suspected shooter, who was arrested, was 14 and that students shot could be anywhere from 11 to 16. The teenager, who hasn’t been named, is believed to have suffered bullying because ‘he didn’t use deodorant’, according to reports.
One student who witnesses the shooting told local TV Anhanguera: ‘He just starting shooting at everyone in the class. I held my friend’s hand. I didn’t know what to do.’
Another pupil, aged 15, told Brazil’s G1 website: ‘He suffered bullying, people called him smelly, because he didn’t use deodorant.
‘In the break between lessons, he pulled out the gun from his rucksack and started to shoot. He didn’t choose his targets. Everybody started running out of the classroom.’
The shooting happened at around midday yesterday after the bell had rung signalling a break between lessons and the teacher had left the room.
The school in an opulent area of Goania is frequented by children from wealthy families.
Speaking on Globo television, a police officer said the assailant was the son of a policeman and that the pistol used was police-issue.
Military police coronel Anesio Barbosa da Cruz told Brazil’s G1 website ‘preliminary information suggests that he suffered bullying, it became too much, he took the weapon from his home and he opened fire.’