Info post! (Edimar Aparecido Freitas, p3rpetrat0r of the Escola Estadual Coronel Benedito Ortiz sch00l sh00ting in Taiúva, São Paulo, Brazil, January 28th, 2003.)
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I don't think I've seen this man mentioned here at all, ever. A few of you guys might recognize him though! And I thought he was interesting. Unfortunately there isn't as much information on this case as I'd like there to be, not many images of it or of Edimar himself either...
I'd like to add that when I was doing some digging, it seems that Edmar (very similar to Edimar, the "i" is just gone...), was used as a nickname for him, which I may use in this post.
This is for research and archiving purposes Tumblr!
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Edimar Aparecido Freitas, was born to Tereza and Nelson Freitas, on December 5th, 1984. Being an only child he resided with his parents in the small town of Taiúva, a municipality in the state of São Paulo, Brazil.
Edimar's parents both worked on a small farm of theirs. They were both unschooled yet humble, despite this and unlike his parents, Edimar was never deprived of any education or job opportunities in his town. Besides this, not much information is known about his parents.
When Edimar was a child he wasn't very well behaved. He would backtalk his mother and act disruptive. Tereza said, "People would say that it was because he was my only son, he was spolied." He didn't like walking next to his mother on the sidewalk and in public places, preferring not to walk with her. He would also complain about how late his parents got married, and their ages in general.
As Edimar started to get older and progress through adolescence he started to isolate himself more and more. He wouldn't let his parents enter his room and rarely spoke to them. "He shut himself off so much that if I met him on the street, he wouldn't look me in the face." A quote his mother said when prompted about her relationship with Edimar.
In his room, alone, he would spend time reading books and magazines about Adolf Hitler, which he held a deep admiration for. At one point his father questioned what he was doing in his room all the time, which Edimar responded by staying silent and he hung his head low.
I'd also like to add that a friend of Edimar's, named "Alexandre Belesso", recalled that sometimes they would fire at cans with an air shotgun in the back of Edimar's house.
During Edimar's time in school (the school he attended was called "Coronel Benedito Ortiz", the only public high school in Taiúva at the time), he was an average student with good grades. Being described as a "respected", "polite", "shy", "withdrawn", and a "nicely dressed" person by professors and other acquaintances at the school. Most kids said he was normal during his time there. He never drank alcohol, smoked, and never caused any trouble at school. During his time there he was sure that he didn't want to work on a farm like his parents. His first job was working at a green grocery, later on working at a repair shop.
After making some money, Edimar bought a desk with drawers that were able to be locked. His mother Tereza didn't understand why he'd buy such a thing, as he didn't have a laptop or anything like that to hide according to her. When prompted as to why he made the purchase, Edimar claimed it was because it was cheap, but Tereza still has suspicions.
One day Tereza tried to get a closer look at the desk, without her son being around. But Edimar caught her in the act, looking quite nervous according to his mother. She wasn't allowed to enter his room, and he said to her when he saw her, “Mom, this way you’re going to kill me. Why did you open the door?” He was scared she saw something she shouldn't have.
When Edimar was young, he dealt with a lot of harassment and bullying at an early age, due to his weight. He was obese as a child (losing the weight later, which I'll talk more about soon), and was called names such as "pig", "fat", "onion", "little pink elephant", and just "elephant", by fellow friends and classmates. He was also called a "virgin" and a "f@ggot" during his time in high school.
Edimar spoke about going on a rampage a couple of times and bombing the school and no one took him seriously. (Although, investigators couldn't confirm if these statements made by Edimar were true or even real.) Alexander Belesso, one of Edimar's friends who I talked about, mentioned that Edimar threatened to kill everyone if they sang "happy birthday" to him on his birthday. (That being December 5th), when the day finally came around, many students skipped classes.
I'd like to include a quote said by one of his professors, “The class played with him, he played with the class,” - professor Francisco Berci."
Below are some photos of Edimar before he lost weight, (the translation for the first photo being "Edimar during the beginning of adolescence."):
As Edimar got older, he really wanted to lose weight, and succeeded. He drank vinegar with water in the mornings, managing to lose 30kg. Unfortunately, after he lost the weight the jokes didn't stop (that actually pisses me off honestly...), one day someone discovered his diet and the whole school found out, and they would call him "Big Vinegar."
In the last year of being at high school, Edimar asked to switch shifts at the school. He claimed that he wanted to search for a new job during the daytime, so studying at night would be more beneficial for him. But for Tereza, he was trying to stay away from the bullies.
In late 2002, graduation day, Edimar was booed when he received his diploma at graduation. After he graduated him and three other friends contacted the biology teacher João Francisco and asked for assistance and help to take a professional course in a neighboring city. Edimar seemed to be optimistic about pursuing a career.
Pictures of the school (Coronel Benedito Ortiz):
At 18 years old, Edimar would never have to step foot in the school again, but he planned to do so. He'd been planning an attack about 2 months earlier and bought a .38 caliber revolver and bullets in the neighboring town of Jaboticabal. Then, at 11 A.M. on January 18th, 2003, Edimar showered, dressed in his best clothes, and said goodbye to his mother. Tereza asked him why he was dressed so nicely and Edimar answered saying that he was heading over to his grandmother's house. He then grabbed his bag (which had the .38 revolver, 105 bullets, and knife in it), and left for the school.
The revolver Edimar used, (translation for the photo, "Edimar's revolver: 14 shots before committing suicide.")
At about 2:40pm (BRST, Brasilia Summer Time), Edimar scaled a school sidewall (being 2.7 meters high, 8.9 in feet), and entered the courtyard. About 50 students were gathered around there due to it being a passing period, and Edimar started firing at random. It is reported he tried to hold a staff member at the school hostage, and it's widely believed that he had specific targets in mind, because some people he would not shoot, he would let them go, and others he would try to aim for. “He walked past some people and didn’t shoot them,” - professor Francisco Berci.
The school coordinator, Isabel Cristina, was upstairs at the time when she heard three gunshots coming from the schoolyard. She thought it was an explosive device at first, but then she saw Edimar once she walked down the stairs, knowing he shouldn't be there. Isabel didn't assume she had something to do with the sounds, she just asked what he was doing there, Edimar told her to go back to class but instead she ran out of the school.
The vice principal, Marde de Lurdes, stuck with some students and ran towards the entrance, trying to escape the shots. She was grazed by a bullet on the forehead and legs, a student Eliel Câmara was shot in the chest. Another student, Pedro Russo Júnior, who knew Edimar in elementary, was at the drinking fountain when Edimar came out of the men's bathroom and fired at him, he got shot in the spine and legs, leaving him paraplegic. Jefferson de Souza got shot in the hands while trying to protect his face from bullets.
Jairo Dias was shot four times, in the arms and in the face. To escape more shots, he played dead, and survived. Edimar started walking towards the caretaker's residence of the school, where a student was at the time. Along with Maria do Carmon and her injured husband Antonio Augustinho whom she was taking care of. Edimar aimed the revolver at Maria but didn't pull the trigger after she begged him not to kill her. He then pointed the gun at the side of his head, and pulled the trigger in front of her. Eight people were injured (six students, a teacher, a janitor), and Edimar was dead. He fired at least 14 times.
Edimar's ID:
There were no motivations expressed by Edimar, to his parents, his friends, or his victims. Due to this, most people thought that the attack was a result of the bullying and harassment he suffered throughout his school years. It's also been speculated that Edimar wrote a note where he mentioned the names of his targets but the note was never found.
His grandmother reported that Edimar recorded some tapes detailing his motivations when he closed the door and was talking to himself. The tape(s) were never found and it's believed that he burned them before committing the attack on the school, or the police took them. Those tapes are now considered lost media.
When the police searched Edimar's room they found magazines and books covering topics about Nazi Germany and Hitler. They also found a .22 caliber rifle and an air shotgun. When Tereza searched his wardrobe, she found condoms, leading her to believe he attacked girls or was in the process of "self-assertion" as a result of the nicknames he heard at school.
Photos of Edimar's su1cid3 (first photo) and coffin (second photo):
Photos of the crime scene, (the last photo, the sixth image, might be of the school, it might be Edimar's home, I'm not entirely sure.):
A couple years after the attack happened, in 2005, a regional judge ruled that the school's security was inadequate at the time of the sh00ting. Pointing out how there was no guard present to stop Edimar. Because of this, the Brazilian government was ordered to compensate 305 days of wages to all the victims for physical and mental damage. A little over a year later, the government filed an appeal in 2006, which was still being deliberated as of 2011.
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So, as I mentioned in the beginning of this post, there isn't a lot of information about this attack, it's almost like it was forgotten about. Which is disappointing. It's really horrible that Edimar still had to endure that bullying after he lost the weight too, along with getting booed as he received his graduation diploma?! Terrible. I hope you guys found this case interesting to read about! I wish that it could be mentioned a little more in general but I'm happy I was able to find a couple good sources about it while I was searching. Have a nice rest of your day everyone!
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