A teenage Brazilian girl has admitted to embarking on a killing spree that left 30 men dead. The 17-year-old confessed her murders to police in Sao Paolo after being arrested for getting into a street fight in the Sao José de Rio Preto neighborhood.

The teen told police, "I don't have enough courage to hold a gun, but I can hold a knife. I am confessing because I promised I would do so before becoming 18, to avoid upsetting my family." According to the local police, she confessed before she turned 18 to avoid being

prosecuted as an adult.

The young woman said that she started her killing spree back in 2006, when she was just 15. After her admission, police began to check her story. So far, 11 of the 30 murders she claimed responsibility for have been corroborated. Other cases are still being checked in the Sao Paolo, Mato Grosso and Minas Gerais states.

Police sources told reporters that the teenager committed all the murders

with the same knife, and claimed that they were motivated by, "money, revenge and for bringing justice." Authorities suspect she may have been hired by criminal organizations to commit some of the murders.