Grief-stricken relatives threw themselves on caskets and wept to exhaustion as Rio buried most of the 12 children killed in a school shooting.
The massacre shocked Brazilians and stoked new calls for stricter guns laws.
Sobbing and embracing family members as she watched the body of her 14-year-old niece Milena Santos Nascimento placed into a tomb, Ana Rosa Nascimento Alves could barely describe her pain. “Milena was a dreamer,” she said. “Unfortunately, this madman came and ended her dreams.”
It was the sentiment of a nation that watched funerals attended by upwards of 1000 people each. A day earlier, 10 girls and two boys aged from 12 to 15 were gunned down inside the Tasso da Silveira public school, most lined up along a wall and shot in the head at point-blank range.
The shooter, identified as 23-year-old Wellington Oliveira, killed himself with one of his pistols after being confronted by police. At least 12 other students were injured, two of them gravely.
Oliveira was a good student with a history of psychological problems who attended the Tasso school. He was fascinated with the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the US and spent a lot of time on his computer watching videos on how to fire weapons. Those who knew him said he did not seem the type to carry out such violence.
Investigators said that they recovered at least 60 shell casings from the school and that most of those were shot by Oliveira, who witnesses said was firing both of the revolvers he was carrying.
Police found Oliveira’s home in disarray – he had burned his computer, apparently to thwart an investigation. The motive was unknown and investigators said it might not be discovered.
“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,” Congressman Alessandro Molon said after visiting the Tasso school.
Brazil already has strict gun laws. A 2003 law sharply limited who could legally purchase firearms and carry guns on the street.
Anyone wanting to buy a gun must be at least 25, pass a psychological test, prove they need the weapon, have no criminal record, and provide proof that they attended courses on handling guns.
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