Sigma School shooting

On 28 October 2002, a school shooting occurred at the Sigma School (in Portuguese, Escola Sigma) in Salvador, capital of Bahia, Brazil. The perpetrator, a 17-year-old student only known by his initials E. R., shot two of his classmates before being turned over to authorities.

The episode has been remembered as one of the first cases of school shootings in Brazil.

The private school served two hundred and fifty students in total, attending primary and secondary education.

E. R., according to his colleagues, had been publicly ridiculed for about a month by his peers, Vanessa Carvalho Batista and Natasha Silva Ferreira (both fifteen years old) after losing points during a gymkhana at Escola Sigma, a private school in a middle-class neighborhood in Bahia.^[1] From then on, his relationship with both of them deteriorated.^[2] According to different testimonies, he was indignant because the girls gave him a low score during the sports event, and proceeded to threaten to kill them both.^[1]

On the morning of Monday, October 28, E. R. arrived late at school, where classes started at 7:15 AM. When his mathematics teacher told him to present a homework assignment, he responded that he had brought his homework and then took a 38-caliber revolver from his backpack, which had been stolen from a relative in the Brazilian police force.^[2] In another report, the boy "was given an exercise to do in the classroom".^[3]

At 7:30 am, he fired four shots. One of them hit Vanessa Batista, who died instantly. After that, the minor walked six meters towards the other girl, Natasha Ferreira, and then shot her three time.^[3] Ferreira was seriously injured and was later rescued. The teenager then went to the school playground, where he remained until the arrival of the Military Police; while at the playground, he was described as being very nervous and threatening to kill himself. The Military Police asked his 21-year-old brother to negotiate his surrender, and they were able to arrest him.^[2]

E. R., after being detained, was taken by the military police to the Adolescent Offender Police Station (DAI) for a preliminary statement in which the teenager did not reveal the reasons for his action.^[2] He was then sent to the Children's Prosecutor's Office and Youth, where it was available to the Court, which, within a maximum period of 45 days, should define the punitive measure.^[3] Due to his status as a minor at the time, his legal punishment was not revealed to the public.

On the day of the shooting, the school issued a note announcing the expulsion of the shooter and the suspension of afternoon classes so that students and teachers could attend the burial of student Vanessa Batista.^[3] Batista, after having her corneas donated to the Transplant Center, was buried later that day at the Jardim da Saudade Cemetery.^[2]

Ferreira, who had been shot in the head, lung and neck, was taken in serious condition to the Roberto Santos Hospital where, due to the lack of a neurologist, she was transferred to the State General Hospital where she died on the same day, at 1:30 pm. In another report, she was taken to São Rafael Hospital, where she died.^[3]