2 Detained in Rio School Shooting

Pair sold the gun to the shooter who killed 12 kids
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Apr 9, 2011 12:17 PM CDT
Rio School Shooting: Two Men Detained for Selling Gun to Shooter Wellington Oliveira
A man places two heart-shaped balloons at a makeshift memorial has emerged for the 12 children who were gunned down in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday April 9, 2011.   (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Two men have confessed to illegally supplying a gun to the man who entered a Rio de Janeiro school, opened fire and killed at least 12 children before taking his own life, a police official said today. Charleston Souza de Lucena, 38, and Isaias de Souza, 48, said that they sold a gun to 23-year-old Wellington Oliveira and regretted having done so. The two men have not been charged. Under Brazilian law, prosecutors file charges only after police have finished investigating.

Brazil was reacting to the tragedy with calls for stricter gun control laws. "There are mental health issues related to this tragedy, but it is also clear that if the access to weapons and ammunition were not so easy, the result would have been different," said one politician. Rio today buried the final victim, 13-year-old Ana Carolina da Silva; The AP notes, however, that three more shooting victims are in grave condition and on life support. Oliveira's body sat unclaimed by his family in the Rio morgue. (More school shooting stories.)

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