11 killed in unprecedented Brazil school shooting believed to be a tragedy

A heavily armed man entered his former Rio school Thursday and opened fire, killing 10 children and wounding 18 people before taking his own life, officials said in a tragedy that has shaken Brazil.

Rio de Janeiro state's health department chief Sergio Cortes presented the new toll for the attack, revising it downward from 13 dead and 22 wounded announced earlier by fire officials in the chaotic few hours after the attack.

Authorities identified the shooter as 24-year-old Wellington Menezes de Oliveira, a former student at the public school.

Police said he left a letter saying he wanted to commit suicide, but they also said he appeared to have prepared for a major deadly assault, bringing into the school two revolvers and loads of ammunition just as students and staff were arriving at the morning bell.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said she was "shocked and disturbed" at the shooting. "Innocent children lost their lives and their future," she said in a brief television appearance.

Her education minister, Fernando Haddad, described the attack as "an unprecedented tragedy in Brazil," adding that "this is a day of mourning for all Brazilian education."

Military Police Colonel Djalma Beltrame said police stormed the school and wounded the attacker, "but the man killed himself with a gunshot to the head." Beltrame said the attacker left a rambling suicide note that "made no sense and had no logic."