Mexico City, Jan 18 (EFE).- A student who shot himself in the head after wounding four other people – three of them seriously – in a school shooting early Wednesday in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey has died of his injuries.
“This youth has been taken off life support because he was assessed as brain dead,” Nuevo Leon state Gov. Jaime Rodriguez said at a press conference.
In comments to Radio Formula, Nuevo Leon government secretary Manuel Florentino had earlier identified the shooter as Federico Guevara.
Three of the other four people wounded in the shooting, which occurred inside a classroom at around 8:00 am at the Colegio Americano del Noreste, a private school located on Monterrey’s north side, are in serious condition, Rodriguez added.
He said they were in the operating room being treated for wounds to the head, while the fourth individual is in more stable condition.
The motive of the crime is under investigation, according to the governor, who said the families of students at that school were anguished and frightened.
Rodriguez also called on Mexican society to reflect on violence and the use of firearms.
“Education and peaceful coexistence must be the priority,” he said, adding that “firearms are harmful for any person, are destructive and strip away peace and tranquility.”
“Let’s make it so no child feels drawn to a firearm,” Rodriguez, nicknamed Bronco for his brusque and uninhibited style, said.
Lastly, the governor urged Mexican media to stop showing footage of the shooting, apparently from a closed-circuit camera inside the classroom, saying airing those images infringed on the rights of minors.
Hours after the shooting, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said he was “deeply affected” by the violent episode.
“As a father and president, I’m deeply affected by what happened this morning at a school in Monterrey,” Peña Nieto wrote on Twitter.
“I share in the pain and despair of the families and the school community,” he said of an incident that is much more common in the United States than in Mexico.