Mexican officials confirmed that a sixth grade student shot teachers and students at a school in Coahuila before turning the gun on himself. One teacher and the underage gunman are confirmed dead, while six others were rushed to a local hospital.
The shooting took place on Friday morning at the Cervantes School in Torreon, Coahuila, when an 11-year-old student carried two handguns onto campus and opened fire before committing suicide, said Adelaido Flores, the regional public safety director. Torreon is in the southwestern part of Coahuila, bordering the state of Durango. The weapons are described as a .40 caliber Glock and a .22 caliber pistol.
Coahuila Governor Miguel Angel Riquelme said during a televised news conference that the underage gunman was inspired by a video game and he “tried to recreate it.” The governor revealed that the 11-year-old and a 50-year-old teacher died while five students and one teacher are listed in stable condition.
Preliminary information suggests the underage shooter had good grades and no access to firearms in his home.
The attack comes almost two years after a 15-year-old shot a teacher and several students in a private school in Monterrey. In that attack, the student also turned the gun on himself. The injured teacher died days later.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
Tony Aranda and Jose Luis Lara from Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project contributed to this report.