Brazil School shooting

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/04/07/brazil.school.shooting/index.html?iref=NS1

Tl;DR: gunman walks into school in brazil and starts shooting result: 10 dead 11 if you count the killer

Discuss.

edited 7th Apr '11 8:48:21 AM by stevebat

Apocalypse: Dirge Of Swans.

Well great, but why did you have to shoot a bunch of kids when you were the one sleeping with the wrong person?

The thing about making witty signature lines is that it first needs to actually be witty.

Well, maybe he wished to shoot them for a long time and felt that he has nothing to lose now, might as well do it?

If we disagree, that much, at least, we have in common

He was 23. No way those were his classmates he killed. This is sad, but senseless.

This thread is quite interesting. We had a much bigger tragedy recently, when over a thousand died, and yet is about this one a thread is open. I guess the utterly absurd that this killing represent is what shock people.

This article doesn't enter in details, but the letter the killer left behind was already disclosed, it seem. It is quite long for me to translate and put here right now, but it seems to be about what to do with his body and possessions. He gives instructions for his burial (including how he doesn't want 'impure' people to touch him), asking where he wants to be buried and how he want someone to pray for him. He then say wants to let his house for charity institutions which take care of abandoned animals ('cause they are much forsaken and need care).

...Nothing related to his motives, it seems. The dude was crazy.

Where was the bigger tragedy?

Here in Brazil I mean (and even here in the state of Rio). Heavy rain, much flooding, a thousand of deaths (which is, to put in perspective, more then Chile's earthquake last year) and many people without houses. This just a few months ago (January).

I can see why people won't take much notice on this, but I found interesting that, short thereafter, people do take notice in a relatively minor tragedy (in comparison, I mean). The reason, however, is clear. Such crazy happening (an adult dude going in a killing spree on a school) has much more shocking value then heavy rains ruining people's life.

Heavy rains ruining people's lives is something that can be reasonably expected; in a truly sense of the world, it is not news. Deforestation, pretty bad urban expansion planning, climate changing, pick a dart. On the other hand, a random person going into a school and randomly shooting people is something that, under our principles of social order, we want to delude themselves into believing can not be expected, or possible. That added to the violence, I guess, adds to the media attraction factor.

Fanfic Recs orwellianretcon'd: cutlocked for committee or for Google?

There is a reason I picked Chile's Earthquake to compare (which was international news). In a way, it is not much different from the floodings it had here. It kills lot of people, but the true tragedy is the devastation it leaves behind. And it is also reasonable expected, for the region. This particular flood was also the biggest natural disaster in Brazil history, btw. And, anyway, the flood had some international exposure, just not a thread over here.

I did not had the intention of make any judgment, however I was just remarking how the dissonance is interesting (biggest natural disaster in Brazil's history vs crazy serial killer). Anyway, this is nothing to do with the current topic, so lets move on.

About the killers motives, rumors is that he suffered bullying at school, but former classmate deny. Apparently the guy refused so much contact with the others the teachers allowed him to work alone in group works (by his own insistence).

edited 7th Apr '11 4:08:08 PM by Heatth

Technically, that's not a serial killer. It's a spree killer.

You exist because we allow it and you will end because we demand it.

You can't blame heavy rains on anybody. You can try to blame the damage on somebody who dropped the ball and didn't do anything about it, but that's harder.

This, this is news. People killing people is a big deal, even though it happens probably as much as rain.

To "Not have the impure touch his body."

What religion was he a part of that subscribes a certain type of people to be impure? And where can we find a bunch of them to dry hump his corpse before it's buried?

Bastard.. Shooting a bunch of 13/14 year olds...

The thing that always bugs me about these shootings is how many more injured there usually are than dead. 10 dead to 13 injured isn't so bad. Better than Whitman's ratio. But then, wikipedia's saying it's actually 11:20, so that's not too impressive.

Spree killings OTOH are considerably less common than rain. In fact, it seems that this one is a milestone: Brazil's first school massacre, somehow. The natural disaster may be record-breaking, but the massacre is apparently record-setting.

This Troper expecting a topic here, either, to tell you the truth, but as you said, it's a shocking crime.

You can't blame the rain on anybody and floods are becoming disturbingly common in Brazil. Sure, it's sad, but... Natural disasters happen.

My thoughts exactly.

That's because according to a twelve years old student, the psycho shot many kids (begging for their lives) in the leg so they wouldn't run away. Then a cop shot him and he commited suicide.

And yeah, first school shooting. Brazil is violent. Not as violent as many people think, but still, I know some horror stories of teachers getting beaten up or stabbed by students. But school shootings?

edited 7th Apr '11 11:00:17 PM by risingdreams

Not just spree killings, regular killing. Anytime a person perpetrates unwarranted violence on another, that's kinda of a surprise. Because, ya know... unwarranted.

And now, angry mobs are threatening to go to his family's house and burn it to the ground, because, you know, since you can't lynch the killer if he is already dead, you have to go after his family.

Good job Rio de Janeiro, we totally need more innocent victims here.