This archive report was first published on 11 January 2020.
On January 10, 2020, a shocking school shooting occurred at the Colegio Cervantes in northern Mexico, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake.
According to Governor Miguel Angel Riquelme of the state of Coahuila, an 11-year-old boy shot and killed his teacher, a 50-year-old woman, and wounded six others, including five pupils and a physical education teacher.
The incident unfolded when the student, who was in his final year of elementary school, asked for permission to go to the bathroom shortly after the school day began. When he did not return after about 15 minutes, his teacher went to see if anything was wrong.
Tragically, the student emerged from the bathroom with two guns and opened fire, killing his teacher and wounding the group of six before shooting himself, Riquelme said.
"We deeply regret this incident... which is shocking for us all," the governor told a news conference.
"I want to reiterate that this sort of thing is not the norm in our schools," he added.
While Mexico is more accustomed to seeing school shootings in neighboring United States, this incident was not without precedent. In 2014, a 15-year-old shot and killed a schoolmate in central Mexico State, and in 2017 a 15-year-old shot and wounded four classmates at a high school in the northern city of Monterrey.
Investigations are ongoing, but officials have suggested that the student's fascination with the video game "Natural Selection" may have played a role in the shooting. The game, whose first edition was released in 2002, has been linked to the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, although there is no direct link between the two incidents.
