Aracruz school shootings

On the morning of November 25, 2022, two spree shootings occurred at two schools located on the same street in Aracruz, Espírito Santo, Brazil. The attacks were carried out by Gabriel Rodrigues Castiglioni, a 16-year-old former student of one of the schools, using firearms belonging to his father, a Military Police lieutenant. Four people were killed and eleven others were wounded before the gunman fled the scene.

According to Wikipedia's account of the case, Rodrigues had reportedly been active in online neo-Nazi communities that promoted accelerationism, including the Terrorgram network. His attire during the attack resembled uniforms associated with the terrorist organization Atomwaffen Division, and he wore a homemade flag of Nazi Germany on his sleeve. He stated he had begun planning the attack since 2019, after being bullied at school, and had secretly practiced with his father's guns using internet tutorials.

The shootings began around 9:30 a.m. Rodrigues broke into Primo Bitti Elementary and Middle School, a public school, by destroying two locks on a side gate with wrenches and a bolt cutter. Using a .40-caliber pistol, he shot 11 people in the teachers' lounge, killing two teachers at the scene; a third teacher died of her injuries the following day. He then drove to the Educational Center Praia de Coqueiral, a private school, entering through an unlocked gate at 9:49 a.m. There, using a revolver, he shot two people and killed a 12-year-old sixth-grade student. He fled after struggling to reload the revolver and remained at large for roughly four hours, during which he returned home, hid the weapons, ate lunch with his parents, and went with them to a family beach property. He was arrested by Military Police at his family's residence later that day; his parents reportedly learned of his actions only at the time of the arrest.

The victims were identified as Selena Zagrillo, 12; Maria da Penha Pereira de Melo Banhos, 48; Cybelle Passos Bezerra Lara, 45; and Flavia Amoss Merçon Leonardo, 38.

In the aftermath, Aracruz suspended classes at all municipal schools. The mayor of Aracruz described the shootings as "the largest tragedy this city has ever seen." Renato Casagrande, governor of Espírito Santo, declared three days of official mourning. President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed solidarity with the victims' families in a public statement.

In December 2022, Rodrigues Castiglioni was sentenced to three years in juvenile detention, described as the harshest penalty available for minors under Brazilian law. In November 2025, at age 19, he was placed on supervised release after completing his juvenile detention sentence.