A school shooting took place early Friday morning in Torreón, Mexico. Two people were reported as deceased, a teacher at the school and the shooter, who was a student. Further details, including the number of injured people, were still not clear nearly 24 hours after the shooting. Jorge Zermeno, the mayor of the northern city of Torreon, stated that at least five students and another teacher were injured.

Movilización por detonaciones de arma de fuego; presuntamente un menor disparó al interior del Colegio Cervantes de #Torreón; como información preliminar se maneja la versión de dos fallecidos y varios heridos más. https://t.co/aZUBVJv5ZM pic.twitter.com/xJsWHvkt7I — El Siglo de Torreón (@torreon) January 10, 2020

⚠ ÚLTIMA HORA: Alumno ingresa con arma a la escuela en Torreón, #Coahuila y dispara en contra de sus compañeros; reportan al menos tres muertos y 4 heridos. @telediariomty. pic.twitter.com/PTebryZdi1 — Víctor Martínez (@victormtzlucio) January 10, 2020

🌐T-NEWS NACIONAL:

COAHULA 🚨🚔‼ESTUDIANTES HERIDOS, UNA MAESTRA Y DOS ALUMNOS AL MOMENTOS FALLECIDOS EN TIROTEO EN ESCUELA PARTICULAR EN TORREÓN, COAHULA, UN ALUMNO INTRODUJO AL PLANEL DOS ARMAS DE FUEGO.‼ pic.twitter.com/3muCGxGfAC — TULAN_NETWORK (@NetworkTulan) January 10, 2020

The shooter was reported to be an 11-year-old child who came to the school with two loaded guns. Multiple sources said that the shooter was telling his classmates “today was the day” shortly before the shooting.

Miguel Riquelme, the current Governor of Coahuila, had suggested that the shooter was perhaps motivated or inspired by a video game called “Natural Selection.” However, others have pointed out that Columbine shooter Eric Harris wore a t-shirt with the same phrase written on it at the time he and Dylan Klebold committed the infamous massacre.

The Location of the Shooting

Torreón has a population of approximately 650,000 people and is located approximately 350 miles from Laredo, Texas. The location of the shooting was the Colegio Cervantes de Torreón. It appears to be a private school.

According to the school’s website, its mission is to “train people who have the knowledge and skills necessary to successfully face the competitive challenges of today’s world, and who also possess the moral, intellectual and aesthetic values ​​that allow them to develop simultaneously in the professional and spiritual field, as well as contribute positively to the development of our country.”

The school also lists the philosophy of the institution on the site, which includes the following points:

Offer a quality educational service.

Respect for different religious beliefs and ideologies.

Inculcate the moral and social values ​​of our culture.

Strengthen the integral training of our students.

School projection towards the community.

Promote activities for the professional improvement of our staff.

A twitter post states that several months ago the school proposed a program to check students backpacks. The post goes on to say that the program was apparently not implemented, as there was no agreement reached with the parents of the students. The post features an image which appears to be a letter from a director at the school confirming the details.

Hace tres meses se presentó el Programa “Mochila Sana y Segura”, para revisar las pertenencias de los alumnos del Colegio Cervantes, de #Torreón, pero no hubo acuerdo con los padres de familia pic.twitter.com/S73xmRduo4 — vιcтor gaмвoa arzola (@gamboa_arzola) January 10, 2020

Previous School Shootings in Mexico

This incident comes almost exactly three years after a school shooting took place in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. On January 18, 2017, a 15-year-old student opened fire inside of a classroom with a handgun. A teacher and the gunman died of injuries sustained during the shooting, while three others were injured.

School shootings in Mexico are relatively rare, and even more rarely perpetrated by a student of the school. The country has no reported history of school shootings with a death toll higher than two, including the shooter.

Detailed photos of deceased individuals are circulating the internet, but we will not be sharing them at any time with our readers out of respect for their families. They appear authentic based on other photos being shared of the scene.

This story was last updated from its original version at 11:20 pm 1/10/2020.