A 13-year-old student was killed and eight others injured on Monday when a 15-year-old pupil opened fire at a school in Santa Fe Province, the provincial government said.
The shooting occurred at Escuela N°40 Mariano Moreno secondary school in the city of San Cristóbal. The suspected attacker was arrested, a source at the provincial Security Ministry confirmed.
Six students were treated at the local hospital for minor injuries sustained while fleeing the scene and are out of danger, said a statement from the provincial government.
Two other students were transferred to the Rafaela Regional Hospital, one in serious though stable condition.
The identities of the attacker and the victims have not yet been officially released.
“I went upstairs and just as I was about to come down, some students saw a boy come out of the bathroom with a gun and they started screaming. He just started shooting into the air and we all ran,” a student at the school, identified as Priscila, told Radio Con Vos.
“There were injured students, not only from the pellets but also because they were breaking windows to escape,” she added.
“We think it was random, but from what I understand the boy was going to target a class because he was being bullied. It was already planned,” said the student.
The shooting occurred at around 7.15am, while students were waiting to raise the flag, as they do each day before classes begin.
The school is located in San Cristóbal, a small city in north-west Santa Fe province of around 16,000 inhabitants.
Priscila – who said she was a fifth-year student at the school – said San Cristóbal is a “quiet” place where “everyone knows each other,” and added that she had previously been friends with the attacker’s sister.
Local media reports said the attacker had been prevented from causing more harm by a a school assistant who attempted to stop him firing.
Some students recorded video footage from inside the school, showing the panic as shots were heard.
Several police vehicles and emergency personnel arrived at the scene.
The weapon used by the attacker “was reportedly a shotgun,” San Cristóbal government secretary Ramiro Muñoz told the TN television channel.
“The attacker, aged between 15 and 16, reportedly pulled a shotgun from his rucksack, shot several classmates and killed a 13-year-old boy,” he added.
Authorities are working to determine how the teenager managed to bring the weapon into the school. It is believed he may have concealed it inside a guitar case.
“We spoke with teachers and they told us [the perpetrator] is a good student and had never shown behavioural problems, which makes this all the more surprising,” Muñoz said of the suspect.
Classes were suspended and students were sent home.
Argentina rarely records school shootings. Civilian gun ownership is more tightly regulated than in countries such as the United States and firearms are not commonly carried by teenagers.
– TIMES/AFP/NA
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) Shocking ttack in a quiet Santa Fe town of San Cristóbal leaves one student dead and several injured; Authorities investigating how 15-year-old suspect – who is now detained – brought a shotgun into the school.
