Boy, 16, ‘wore swastika’ during fatal school shootings in Brazil

A former student armed with a semiautomatic pistol and a revolver who killed three people and wounded 13 in two schools in Brazil had a swastika pinned to his vest and had been planning the attacks for two years, police said.

The shootings took place on Friday at a state school with primary and middle school students and a private school, both on the same street in the small town of Aracruz in Espirito Santo state in eastern Brazil. Two teachers and a student were killed.

About four hours later, the shooter, identified as a 16-year-old boy who used to study at the state school, was arrested by police, said Renato Casagrande, the governor of Espirito Santo. Authorities did not release the suspect's name.

Authorities say the teenager used his family's car to go from one school to the other, and had the licence plate hidden by a cloth.

Security camera footage showed him wearing a bulletproof vest, according to Espirito Santo's public security secretary, Márcio Celante. The shooter gained access to the teachers' lounge in the state school after breaking a lock.

Casagrande said the semiautomatic weapon belonged to the military police, while the revolver was a personal weapon registered in the name of the boy's father, a military police officer.

The shooter is being held at a facility for underaged criminals.