Children in Nigeria, Brazil Are Killed While at School

Building collapse, mass shooting leave communities in mourning in two parts of the world
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 13, 2019 12:15 PM CDT
A World Apart, Children Die in Building Collapse, Shooting
A child is rescued from the rubble of a collapsed building Wednesday in Lagos, Nigeria.   (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

More than a dozen children were killed Wednesday when tragedy struck two schools in different parts of the world.

  • Two gunmen opened fire at a school in southeastern Brazil, near São Paulo, the BBC reports. Officials say at least six students and two employees were killed. About 1,000 primary and secondary students, ages 6 through 18, attend the school and language center, but the primary students reportedly weren't there at the time. "It's a very sad scene," the state's governor said, "the saddest thing I've seen in my entire life—the teenagers who were brutally murdered." The masked gunmen, said to be former students at the school, then killed themselves, police said. No motive has been released.
  • A building with a school on the top floor collapsed in Nigeria, killing at least eight children and trapping many more. Rescuers pulled at least 40 students from the rubble and were still searching, per the BBC, while parents tried to find their children at the school or a nearby hospital. The Lagos school has more than 100 students. Crowds at both places were adding to the chaos, and officials pleaded for parents to let the rescuers and medical personnel work. The four-story building contains apartments, and residents also are feared trapped.
(More school shootings stories.)

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