Lula expresses remorse for the “senseless catastrophe,” and Espirito Santo’s governor orders three days of national mourning.

In an attack this Friday on two schools in the Brazilian municipality of Aracruz, an armed man who is currently on the run fired shots, killing at least two teachers and one student and injuring eleven others.

The attacks have notably targeted the Praia de Coqueiral private school and the Primo Bitti State Primary and Secondary School (EEEFM). The attacker first barged into the state school with a gun and opened fire in the staff area. At least nine people were hurt, and two of them died quickly.

According to Colonel Marcio Celante, Secretary of Public Security and Social Defense for the state of Esprito Santo, the assailant then drove away from the scene and arrived to the private Praia de Coqueiral school, where he killed a pupil and injured two others.

Celante verified that the attacker was camouflaged and had his face disguised so that he could not be recognized by the cameras in the centers before declaring a regional search and capture operation against him.

Later, the president-elect, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, sent his sympathies for the “senseless” tragedy via Twitter and expressed his support for the investigating authorities as well as the neighborhood surrounding both schools.

Renato Casagrande, the governor of Espirito Santo, praised Lula for his message of solidarity and reaffirmed that the state security forces had located the attack’s culprit.

“Such cowardice infuriates us, and we’re trying to figure out why. In order to help the victims and their families, the government has put together a team “According to Casagrande’s Twitter profile.

A similar three days of public mourning have been proclaimed by the governor of Espirito Santo “as a statement of sadness for the irreparable losses” in the state.