Three people have been killed and at least eight injured after a shooter opened fire at two schools in the Brazilian state of Espirito Santo, local police say.

The attacks happened about 10am on Friday in the small town of Aracruz, located 80km north of the state capital Vitoria.

Officials said an unidentified teenager in military attire had opened fire at two schools, one private and one public, and was still missing in the early afternoon.

Local police said they initially suspected the shooter was a student at one of the attacked schools but Espirito Santo’s head of public security Marcio Celante told reporters that had not been confirmed.

The public security office said in a statement that police and rescue workers were taking care of those injured while continuing to search for the shooter.

One injured person had to be taken by helicopter to Serra, a larger city located about 60km south of Aracruz.

Espirito Santo Governor Renato Casagrande expressed his condolences to the victims’ families and said that all local security forces had been engaged in the investigation.

President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called it an “absurd tragedy”.

“I extend my support to Governor Casagrande in investigating the case and comforting the communities surrounding the two affected schools,” he said.

Lula is set to take office from President Jair Bolsonaro on January 1.

US Walmart gunman ‘left phone death note’

Shooting suspect Andre Bing allegedly blamed his co-workers for mocking him

US police say the Walmart supervisor who shot and killed six co-workers in Virginia left behind what he called a “death note” on his phone.

A Walmart supervisor who killed six co-workers at a store in Virginia bought a handgun the day of the shooting and left a rambling note on his mobile phone in which he railed against other employees who he felt had mocked and betrayed him.

Information on the firearm purchase and note was released by the city of Chesapeake on Friday in an update on its investigation into the shooting, in which 31-year-old Andre Bing opened fire on other workers before turning the gun on himself.

Bing, an overnight shift team leader, was armed with a handgun when he shot some but not all of the employees assembled in a break room prior to their shift on Tuesday, witnesses and police said, raising the prospect he targeted individuals.

In a search of his home, investigators found ammunition and various items related to the 9mm handgun, including a receipt, according to the update from Chesapeake, a city of 251,000 people about 320km south of Washington DC.

“The gun was legally purchased from a local store on the morning of Tuesday November 22. He had no criminal history,” the city said in a statement on Friday.

In his note, Bing made reference to an unspecified work failure on his part and perceived slights from co-workers, who he felt were mocking him.

He said he believed his phone had been hacked and “was giving the worst feeling imaginable”.

“The associates gave me evil twisted grins, mocked me and celebrated my down fall the last day,” he wrote.

“That’s why they suffer the same fate as me.”

Bing also wrote in the document titled “death note” that he planned to spare a person, whose name was redacted, because she had a special place in his heart, citing his own mother’s death from cancer.

Asked to comment on Bing’s note, Walmart said in a statement: “There is nothing that can justify taking innocent lives. Our focus continues to be on the families who are grieving and supporting our associates through this difficult time.”

In addition to the seven dead, including Bing, two people are being treated in area hospitals.

One is in critical condition and one’s condition is improving, the city said.
The victims ranged in age from a teenage boy to a 70-year-old man.

A vigil was held for the 16-year-old victim, Fernando Chavez-Barron, outside the Chesapeake Walmart on Thursday, with friends and family describing him as humble and intelligent, according to the Virginian-Pilot newspaper.