On the morning of 7 April 2011, 12 students aged between 13 and 15 years old were killed[4] and 22 others seriously wounded by Wellington Menezes de Oliveira, 23 years old, who entered the Tasso da Silveira Municipal School (Escola Municipal Tasso da Silveira), an elementary school in Realengo on the western fringe of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was armed with two revolvers. The killer was intercepted by the police, but committed suicide before being arrested. It was the first non-gang school shooting with a sizable number of casualties reported in Brazil.[2]
Although police found no concrete evidence of religious or political motives, texts found at Oliveira's home suggest that he was obsessed with terrorist acts and Islam, which he had converted to two years beforehand, after having been a Jehovah's Witness. In his last wishes, he requested to be buried following Islamic traditions, and asked Jesus for eternal life and "God's forgiveness for what I have done." According to his adoptive sister and a close colleague, the shooter was reserved and suffered from bullying.
Background
Police investigations prior to the massacre, via an anonymous report, found that Oliveira had left to buy a 32 caliber revolver with two men, an unemployed watchman and a locksmith, Charleston Souza de Lucena e Izaías de Souza, respectively, and both suspects confessed having been middle-men in the revolver's sale at a nearby kiosk in Sepetiba.[5] Oliveira's claim, according to one of the suspects, was that he would use the weapon to protect himself, as he lived alone. A third man would have participated in the sale, Robson, supplying the weapon directly to Oliveira, with the other two were only the middle-men.[5]
Both arrested men said they regretted the sale. Isaías said: "If I had known it was to do that, I wouldn't have participated, because I also have kids, that even study at the school in front of Wellington's house", while Charleston said: "Now unfortunately I have to pay for this act. I hope the Justice does what it needs to do, that it is fulfilled."[5] Even though the accused have claimed that Robson died in 2011, the police still investigated him and tried to find evidence for his supposed death. The investigators also don't know how Oliveira obtained his other weapon, a 38 revolver, with which he made most shots.[6]
Shooting
Municipal School Tasso da Silveira, in Realengo, on the day of the shooting
A lone gunman, Wellington Oliveira, well-dressed, entered the Tasso da Silveira at around 8:30 BRT (11:30 GMT) in April 7, 2011, identifying himself as lecturer that would talk to the students that morning; as such, he was allowed to enter, he then proceeded to the first floor and entered an eighth-grade classroom, where the second half of a double Portuguese class was happening with the teacher Leila D'Angelo. Oliveira entered without asking for permission, calmly, and then took his weapons, one in each hand, and started to shot several pupils, in the boys arms and legs and in the girls heads, looking to only kill them.[2][7] The perpetrator was armed with a .38-caliber revolver and a .32-caliber revolver[8] with a number of speedloaders, that according to the police, demanded training for its use.[9] According to witnesses, he referred to the girls as 'impure beings' and positioned the weapon in their foreheads in a cruel form before killing them.[10] Ten girls and two boys died, all with ages ranging from 13 to 16. He was able to shoot more than thirty shots, due to the loaders.[11]
Sargeant Márcio Alves, author of the shot that hit Wellington
The children and staff members ran out of the Tasso da Silveira as soon as Oliveira started shooting. Two agents from the Department of Road Transport who were patrolling the area were alerted to the shooting by a boy who had escaped from the place.[12]Rio de Janeiro military policeman Third Sergeant Márcio Alexandre Alves shot the gunman in the leg and in the stomach;[13] he fell down a staircase and then shot himself fatally in the head.[14]
According to Alves, Oliveira pointed his gun at him, but didn't shoot. "The feeling is of sadness for the children. I have a kid that age. Mas also there's a feeling of accomplishment, I stopped him from going to the third floor and making more victims."[15]
Wellington Oliveira left a letter where he wrote that the intention of suicide was premeditated.[16]
11 of the 12 students were buried the day after the shooting, following the Brazilian practice of burying (or cremating) people within a day of their death.[17] The twelfth child's body was cremated two days after the shooting.[18]
Perpetrator
Wellington Menezes de Oliveira (13 July 1987[19] – 7 April 2011), a 23-year-old former pupil of the school. He was the adopted son of Dicéa Menezes de Oliveira, the youngest of five siblings and adopted when he was a baby. His biological mother suffered from a mental illness and had tried to commit suicide.[20] He was described by family and friends as a quiet, shy and introspective boy, that stayed out of trouble and followed rules. His adopted mother, that died in 2010, was a Jehovah's Witness; Wellington also had taken part in the religion, but never adhered to it.[21] He spent a good part of his time online.[22]
In an April 13 interview, his family members confirmed that Wellington was closed-off and introspective, that he only related to people online, had few friends and didn't participate in the family life, spending almost all of his time in front of the computer. Being adopted by a woman in her 50s and having married siblings, he was treated coldly by his mother, that already anticipated that she would leave him early due to her age. She's described as a safe haven to Oliveira and her death worsened his mental illness, already known by his family and with an attempt of treatment with a psychologist, that was abandoned by the young man. He attended Jehovah's Witnesses meetings with his mom, who was very religious, not having adhered with the religion and didn't have a connection with Islamic groups, like the media initially reported, although he searched for other religions when he disconnected from Jehovah's Witnesses. His family member also said they were surprised with the crime and scared of publicly exposing themselves.[23]
Oliveira, in a letter, refers to the bullying he suffered at school: "A lot of times I was beaten by a group, and everyone who was around mocked me, had fun with the humiliation I suffered with, without caring about my feelings". E, according to the statement of an ex-schoolmate: "Once upon a time in school they put Wellington with his head down, placed his head on the toilet and flushed it. Some people instigated the girls: 'Come on, mess with him'. Or they would be the one incentivizing: 'Let's play with him, let's screw with him'. The abuse happened in 2001. In that year, on September 11, the biggest terrorist attack of all time became an obsession to Wellington".[24]
Oliveira attended the Tasso da Silveira Municipal School from 1999 to 2002. According to former schoolmates he was a strange, very reserved person constantly harassed by others, was called "Sherman" (an allusion to a character from American Pie), as well as "suingue" (swing), because he had a limp leg, and was thrown into a garbage bin.[25][26] In a video he had recorded two days prior to the shooting Oliveira stated: "The struggle for which many brothers died in the past, and for which I will die, is not solely because of what is known as "bullying" [the English word]. Our fight is against cruel people, cowards, who take advantage of the kindness, the weakness of people unable to defend themselves." (Portuguese: A luta pela qual muitos irmãos no passado morreram, e eu morrerei, não é exclusivamente pelo que é conhecido como bullying. A nossa luta é contra pessoas cruéis, covardes, que se aproveitam da bondade, da fraqueza de pessoas incapazes de se defenderem.)[27]
After the death of Dicéa, his brothers searched his computer and found that he searched a lot about arming. He has bought two revolvers and a speedloader, and also took shooting classes, having evidence that he planned an action since the previous year, always with the intent of revenge and admiration for other terrorist attacks.[20] During the shooting, he committed suicide after being shot in the belly. His body was buried in a potter's field at the Caju Cemetery on April 22, after fifteen days in the coroner's office, without the presence of any family. In his last wishes, he wished to be buried following Islamic traditions, and asked Jesus for eternal life and "God's forgiveness for what I have done". None of the procedures that he had asked to be done in his suicide letter were done.[28][29]
Police confirmed they had a letter stating the perpetrator's intention to commit suicide.[9][30][31] The police stressed that they found no concrete evidence of a religious or political motive for the attack.[30] Texts found at Oliveira's home suggest that he was obsessed with terrorist acts and Islam which he described as the most correct religion.[24] A neighbor said Oliveira had turned to Islam two years beforehand.[29] In his letters, Oliveira states that he attended the mosque in downtown Rio and that he would study the Qur'an for four hours daily.[24] He also describes his association with "Abdul", who came from overseas and who boasted about having taken part in the September 11 attacks.[24] He also indicated his desire to move to a Muslim majority country, either Egypt or Malaysia.[24] However, Islamic leaders in Rio denied Oliveira's claims.[24]
Pictures taken by Oliveira show him standing in positions similar to that of Seung-Hui Cho, perpetrator of the Virginia Tech shooting, including him pointing the firearms used in the shooting at himself and the camera. It was later confirmed he felt "inspired" by Cho, going so far as to call him a "brother" and thanking him, along with fellow Brazilian Edmar Freitas, the perpetrator of the 2003 Taiúva school shooting, for their "bravery" and for "leading the way".[32]
Victims
The list of victims was released by police in Rio de Janeiro.
The victims were:
Ana Carolina Pacheco da Silva, aged 13
Bianca Rocha Tavares, aged 14
Géssica Guedes Pereira, aged 15
Igor Moraes da Silva, aged 13
Karine Chagas de Oliveira, aged 14
Larissa dos Santos Atanásio, aged 13
Laryssa Silva Martins, aged 13
Luiza Paula da Silveira, aged 15
Mariana Rocha de Souza, aged 13
Milena dos Santos Nascimento, aged 15
Rafael Pereira da Silva, aged 14
Samira Pires Ribeiro, aged 14
The families of four victims decided to donate the victims' organs.[33] The city hall paid homage to the victims, naming twelve daycares in the city after them.[34] The first to receive this homage was Samira Pires Ribeiro, whose name was given to a day care (Espaço de Desenvolvimento Infantil) in Guaratiba.[35]
Six injured teenagers, two of them in critical condition, required further treatment.[36]
Investigation
Police inquiry
The killer's computer was tested to find out with who he electronically corresponded (he had been messaging with a specific person for three months) and the shooting instructor that taught Oliveira was heard by the deputy. The police didn't have any intentions of recreating the crime in Realengo and a forensic psychologist was tasked with issuing a report about the mental conditions of the shooter.[37]
In April 14, the man that sold the .38 caliber revolver was located by the police. He also sold munition (60 cartridges) and the speedloader. Police also spoke with an ex-classmate of Oliveira named Abdul, with whom the shooter messaged online, mas ruled out complicity. For the deputy, the crime was clarified and "he (Oliveira) acted alone. It was a mentally ill person that had a psychotic break and ended up in the tragedy that touched the whole country."[38]
The police estimate that over 60 shots were fired by the perpetrator during the shooting. His body was found with a .38 caliber and a .32 caliber revolver, some speedloaders and a bandolier with 18 unused rounds.
The .32-caliber Taurus Model 73 snubnosed revolver belonged to a man who died in 1994 and according to his son, it was stolen from him by the time of his death. The police apprehended the two men who illegally sold the weapon to the perpetrator, who, according to them, claimed he needed the firearm for his own protection.
Despite the fact that the .38-caliber Rossi Model 971 revolver had its serial number almost totally scratched-off, the Police managed to locate the weapon's original owner, a 57-year-old man who worked in a slaughterhouse and was a former co-worker of the perpetrator. According to the seller he sold Wellington the weapon, the speedloaders, and a huge quantity of ammunition, possibly that used in the shooting.[18]
Motivation
The massacre's motivation isn't fully known. It is thought that the killer has psychopathy traits. However, it's not fully certain that the Realengo killer was a psychopath, since one of the main traits of psychopathy is lack of remorse and the pleasure one has watching the suffering of the victims. From the psychiatric point of view, a sociopath doesn't have suicidal ideation, feels pleasure in killing but doesn't harm his own life. With scientific rigor, the Realengo killer suffered with some neuropsychiatric disorder with psychopathic traits, combining persecutory ideation, delirium, hallucinations, fantasies and a distorted reality.[39] His suicide letter and his personal page on the social mediaOrkut contained religious themes and passages from the Bible.[40] The newspaper Clarín,[41] stated that the author concluded his suicide letter with the request of a "typical catholic believer", by writing that he needed the "visit of a faithful believer of God at his grave at least once" and by citing the second coming of Christ, even though other religious movements also believe in Parousia. In the afternoon of the tragedy, the national media put out that his adoptive sister said that he had connections to Islam, didn't leave the house and "lived on the Internet".[22] Another speculation is that the shooter had suffered from bullying when he was in school.[26] That opens the opportunity to say that it was an "imported tragedy" because it wasn't new in other countries, like the United States, Argentina, Russia e China, but very rare in Brazil.
Adding the religious motivation to the mistreatment during school times, a close friend of Oliveira stated that he "suffered from bullying, was addicted to violent games and terrorist attacks". The classmate also said Oliveira's nickname was Al-Qaeda. He also said that Oliveira was reserved and, among topics of their conversations, some stood out like terrorist attacks, 9/11 being "his favorite".[24]
In Oliveira's house, they found letters in which it was found he had connections with extremist Islamic groups and that he practiced Islam, read the Quran four hours a day, meditated on attacks and had an interest in visiting muslim countries.[24] Visiting the barber, according to the latter's statement, he said he couldn't shave his long beard that covered his face because he would be kicked out of the group he was a part of and with which he periodically met up with in Rio de Janeiro (the beard, is in fact, part of the Islamic tradition as a symbol of masculinity, reason for pride and object of extra attention, also representing the believers reputation).[42] During the crime, the shooter didn't have his beard anymore and, according to a local shopkeeper, Oliveira had completely shaven his beard the day prior to the massacre.
The letters found in his house also mentioned two extremists with whom Oliveira corresponded online and one of them had stated that he almost took part on 9/11. However, the police disregards that line of investigation because they believe that such terrorist connections could have been mere deliriums, and information that there were direct ties with Islam was denied by people close to him and also by the National Union of Islamic Entities of Brazil.[43]
Sources connected to organizations of Human Right's defense stated that the crime was also motivated by misogyny,[7] because analyzing the profile of the crime, the focus was on the girls, as the shots fired towards the boys were accidental. It's also said that a hate page famous at the time, whose owners were arrested in March 2012, exalted Oliveira's action in the moment of the crime. It's important to highlight the similarities which other massacres, like the one done by Elliot Rodger.[44]
Videos
In Oliveira's house, police found two videos in which he talked about the motivations of his crime. He made a speech considered confusing and with signs that he was doped in which, between other statements, said: "The struggle for which many brothers died in the past, and for which I will die, is not solely because of what is known as bullying. Our fight is against cruel people, cowards, who take advantage of the kindness, the weakness of people unable to defend themselves."[27]
On April 13, the police shared a new video recovered from the hard drive of Oliveira's computer and done before July 2010, in which he reads a letter. The 58 second video would have been done by the shooter in an unknown location. All of the data archives of the hard drive were recovered with a program used by the FBI, even thought Oliveira tried to delete them on the day of the crime.[45] That video reinforces the thesis that Oliveira wanted to take revenge for the bullying he suffered in school: "Most people that disrespect me, think I'm an idiot, that take advantage of my kindness, that judge me in advance [...]. An action will done for your fellow men that are humiliated, assaulted, disrespected in various places, like schools and colleges".[46]
On April 15, the authorities shared a video recorded by the killer in which he describes all his preparation for the crime and makes it clear that his motivation were the humiliations suffered at school.[47]
Suicide letter
First you should known that the impure won't be able to touch me without gloves, only the Chaste or those who lost its chastity after marriage and haven't been involved in adultery will be able to touch me without wearing gloves, that is, no fornicator or adulterer will have direct contact with me, or anything impure will touch my blood, no impure will have direct contact with a virgin without his permission, the ones that'll take care of my burying should take their clothes off, bathe me, dry me and wrap me totally nude in a white sheet that is in this building, in a bag I left in the first room on the first floor, after wrapping me in the sheet you'll able to put me in my coffin. If possible, I want to be buried next to where my mother sleeps. My mother's name is Dicéa Menezes de Oliveira and is buried in the Murundu cemetery. I need the visit of a faithful believer in God at my grave at least once, I need him to pray in front of my grave asking forgiveness to God for what I did pleading that in his coming, Jesus wakes me from the sleep to the eternal life.
I left a house in Sepetiba that no family member needs, there are charities for the poor, financed by generous people that take care of abandoned pets, I want that space where I spent my last months to be donated to one of those institutions, because those animals are despised beings and need a lot more protection and care than the human beings that have the advantage to be able to communicate, work to eat, so, the ones that appropriate my house, I ask to please have good sense and fulfill my wish, and fulfilling my wish, you automatically are fulfilling the parents wish of passing the property to my name and everyone knows that, if you don't fulfill my wish, you're automatically disrespecting the parents wishes, what proves you don't have any consideration for our parents that already sleep, I believe that all of you have some consideration for our parents, prove it by doing what I asked.
There were a lot of analysis and interpretations by theologian, psychologists and justice experts when the letter was revealed. Even though the first passage presents us with citations of aspects common to different religions, certain experts said that the text, however, doesn't bring "direct references to a specific belief and that it can't be read as an authentic religious speech".[48] By citing the words "purity" and "chastity", enforcing a certain religious sense to them, he asked that his body was washed and wrapped in a white sheet left by him in the school building. Because of that, there were a lot of statements of a supposed connection of the killer to Islam and that his letter was similar to those left by Islamic radicals, like the one left by Mohamed Atta, one of the 9/11 terrorists.[49] The Federation of Muslim Association of Brazil, in contrast, published a note on the afternoon of the 7th to make clear that the shooter wasn't part of the community.[48] The National Union of Islamic Entities of Brazil, even though they published a note stating that Oliveira didn't have ties with the representation and the Muslim religion, admitted that his burying request was within the practices of Muslim rituals done during the burying of a body.[50]
Certain experts refute that statement tied to Islam. The theologian Leonardo Boff, for example, talked about the point where the letter's author cites the second coming of Jesus, stating that Oliveira "doesn't connect to the Jewish, Muslim religion, none of that. He's part of the Judeo-Christian tradition. The Jews wait for the Messiah. To the Christians, the Messiah is Jesus". Boff also says: "He juxtaposes a lot of elements of the religions that are on the market. He's a syncretic Brazilian [...] And within Christianity, there's Manichaean groups. It's a pathology that goes across all religions". The theologian also observed that two concept would be strong within context of the letter: manichaeism and the "conscience of sin", to that he says: "He just wants absolute purity. It's clear that he affiliates that current that is very old. Saint Augustine was for a long time manichaeanian. The manichaeism comes from a true experience that that is the existence of evil in the world. [...] He knows that he's harming God, he asks that a religious person intercede. He's aware that he's done wrong and that, forgiven, he may seek eternal life".[48]
Another specialist, Eulálio Avelino Pereira Figueira, coordinator of the specialization course in Religious Science in the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo, stated: "There's no religion that is founded on gratuitous evil, much less on the perversion and the cruelty. [...] The message of the text is a result of an imaginary religious collective".[48] According to a forensic psychologist and writer of the Estadão, Daniel Martins de Barros, it's not unlikely that Oliveira has a personality disorder, but that on itself wouldn't explain the crime, going back to the concept of catathymic crisis to understand what happened.[51]
National response
Governor Sérgio Cabral and Mayor Eduardo Paes speaking about the shooting at school Tasso da Silveira, in Realengo on April 7, 2011.
PresidentDilma Rousseff said, through the Presidential spokesman, that she was "shocked" and "appalled" and that she spoke on the phone with Sérgio Cabral Filho, the State Governor, and with Eduardo Paes, the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro,[52] The Education Minister, Fernando Haddad, spoke at the end of the morning, saying that the case was "a tragedy without precedents in Brazil".[53]
After finding out about the attack, Dilma Rousseff cried talking about what happened, asking for a minute of silence for the victims.[6] She declared three days of national mourning.[54] She stated: "I'm not going to give a speech because today we also have to lament what happened in Realengo with helpless children. It wasn't characteristic of the country for something like this to happen. So, I consider that we are all here united in condemnation for that act of violence".[55]
Hours after the crime, Sérgio Cabral Filho and Eduardo Paes addressed the press in the gymnasium of the school, where they lamented what happened. Cabral classified the shooter as a "psychopath and animal" and described the sergeant, teachers and children from the elementary school, who were able to call policemen who were nearby, as "heroes". "Without them, the tragedy would have been much worse", he said.[56]
The case was listed by G1 (São Paulo) in 2014 as "9 cases of killers that shocked the country with their crimes"[57] and by Brasil Online (BOL) in 2015 as "22 crimes that shocked Brazil".[58]
Many virtual communities on the social media Orkut were created to glorify the crime and its author, defending his actions and inciting people to do the same. The moderators of these communities use fake profiles and participate in other communities like "defense of rape as 'corrective practice' to lesbians, death to gays, to black people and even laments of the non-extinction of countries like Japan, in the earthquake followed by the tsunami". The criminalists expressed their concern and announced that the Public Prosecutor can frame these virtual environments in the repression laws to racism crimes and the kind. Google, owner of the website, deleted the communities as their policies.[59]
The incident sparked nationwide discussions about how safe Brazilian schools are, and the government promised to advance a disarmament program from 6 May 2011, until the end of the year.[60]
On 9 April 2011, the house where Wellington de Oliveira had lived had a graffiti inscription "assassino covarde" (cowardly murderer). Two days later, a group of local people and former students of the school repainted the house, saying that people "should not continue the harm that he has caused".[61]
Hundreds of residents and students from other schools gathered outside the school in memory of the dead. Posters and flowers were left in front of the school.[62]
On 10 April, a group of protesters hung blood-stained Brazilian flags on Copacabana beach in memory of the children killed.[63]
At the end of a concert in São Paulo, singer Bono, from Irish band U2, asked almost 80 thousand people to remember the children who died in Realengo while their names scrolled up on a screen.[64]
The three policemen who responded to the shooting were decorated for bravery by Brazilian vice-president Michel Temer on 12 April 2011. Third Sergeant Márcio Alexandre Alves was promoted to Second Sergeant; Corporals Denilson Francisco de Paula and Ednei Feliciano da Silva were promoted to Third Sergeant.[65]
International response
UNESCO, the education organ tied to the United Nations, manifested immediate repudiation to the attack, through a note on the internet, that said: "UNESCO repudiates the attacks on the Rio school and sympathizes with the families. The school should be a place to rebuild the peace and culture."[66]
The international press commented that Brazilian public opinion was shocked by the shooting as it was the first of its kind in the country.[67]
The Realengo attack has repercussion in the main news channels. The British websites The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and BBC; the North-American CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, Al Jazeera, the Spanish El País, the Portuguese RTP and the Argentinian Clarín highlighted the topic. The Guardian stated that twenty people were killed, while Al Jazeera reported twelve deaths. The Spanish newspaper El País highlighted that "Rio de Janeiro was mourning and appalled because the crimes of that kind are unknown in the city and only read in newspapers when they happen in the United States".[68]
The archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, Orani João Tempesta, received a letter from Pope Benedict XVI, who said that he prayed for the quick recovery of the wounded and asked all people of the city to "help build a society with no violence, and respect for each other, especially for the weak and oppressed".[69]
Students from Columbine, Colorado, US, the site of a 1999 massacre, made a poster stating their feelings about the tragedy. The poster was sent to the Brazilian elementary school.[70]
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