The death toll from a shooting at a sister school in Brazil rose to four on Saturday after a teacher wounded in the attack by a 16-year-old shooter wearing Nazi symbols died of her injuries, authorities said.
Authorities in the city of Aracruz, in the state of Espirito Santo, had said that some of the nearly 10 injured, including three teachers and a student, were in serious condition after Friday’s attack that shocked the country, which has seen an increase in school shootings in recent years.
“Unfortunately, the tragedy in Aracruz is not over yet,” state governor Renato Casagrande said on Saturday.
“With deep regret we confirm the death of another victim, the teacher Flavia Amboss Mercon,” tweeted the governor, who had decreed three days of mourning in Espirito Santo.
The shooter was a former student from the public school he first targeted, where he fired on a group of teachers, killing two people and wounding nine others. He then headed to a nearby private school where he killed a teenage girl and injured several others.
He has been arrested and will face charges of murder and aggravated attempted murder, Espirito Santo police said.
Relatives of the other three deceased people held wakes on Saturday, according to Brazilian media.
“My daughter was always light and affectionate. I lost my daughter because of hate,” Thais Sagrillo, mother of a 12-year-old girl who was murdered, told Globonews.
The attack was the 12th school shooting in Brazil since 2002, according to the Sou da Paz research institute.
The latest attacks prompted calls for gun policy reform, with critics criticizing a series of presidential decrees that relaxed regulations on firearms and ammunition under far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.
Brazil’s president-elect, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has strongly criticized the former army captain’s easing of gun control laws, defeated Bolsonaro in elections last month.
Authorities said the shooter, the son of a police officer, used two pistols in the attack, both registered to his father: one was his service weapon and the other was a private registration weapon.
Casagrande said the boy appeared to have planned the attack carefully.
Security camera footage released by Brazilian media showed the attacker running towards the school dressed in military-style camouflage and brandishing a weapon.
Investigators said he had a swastika on his uniform and they were looking into whether he had links to any extremist organizations.
