Shooting at school in northeast Brazil leaves 2 teenagers dead, 3 others injured
Authorities search for suspects after shots fired from the sidewalk outside Sobral school; two youths killed, three others wounded.
Two teenagers have died and three others were wounded after a shooting at a school in Sobral, Ceará state, Brazil, on Thursday, authorities said. Unidentified suspects fired from the sidewalk outside the campus, striking victims in the parking lot, the Ceara state Secretariat of Public Security and Social Defense said. The three others were taken to regional hospitals. Officials did not release victims' identities or say whether they were students.
Police said drugs, a precision scale and packaging materials were found at the scene as investigators began reviewing the area. A manhunt is underway for the suspects.
Gov. Elmano de Freitas called the attack "the most serious and intolerable event." He ordered leadership of the Secretariat of Public Security to go to the municipality and take all necessary measures, and he expressed solidarity with the families and friends of the victims in a post on X.
In Sobral's recent history, in 2022 a teenager opened fire on three classmates at another school in Sobral, killing one. The Brazilian Forum on Public Security, a non-profit organization that tracks violence in the country, says Ceará has the third-highest number of violent deaths. The state's violent death rate was 37.5 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2024, up 11% from 2023.
No motive has been disclosed yet, and authorities said the investigation is ongoing.