On April 7, a young man walked into a school in Rio de Janeiro that he had once attended and opened fire on schoolchildren. Firing over 100 rounds, he killed 12 and wounded many more before killing himself when cornered by police.
Video in Portuguese (Graphic)
Below are security camera videos, courtesy of Jornal do Brasil. The first shows the killer loading his weapon. The second shows children fleeing, and the third shows the suspect fleeing the scene of the shooting.
Both Brazilian and English-language reports tend not to delve into the motive behind the shooting other than to speculate that the killer was a psychopath. Other sites are reporting that the killer had become a fundamentalist Muslim. Local Muslim groups in Rio are denying any connection to the shooter. There are some 1.5 million Muslims in Brazil.
http://noticias.uol.com.br/cotidiano/2011/04/07/porta-voz-dos-muculmanos-no-brasil-repudia-associacao-do-atirador-do-realengo-a-religiao.jhtm
“O Alcorão diz que aqueles que tiram a vida de um inocente é como se tivessem assassinado toda a humanidade”, afirmou o porta-voz. “Este jovem que cometeu o ato no Rio de Janeiro não era muçulmano, mas mesmo se fosse, não representa os ensinamentos da religião. Tenho certeza que ele não é muçulmano porque não está cadastrado em entidades nem em nossas mesquitas”.
"The Koran says that those that take the life of an innocent, it is as if they had killed all of humanity, affirmed the spokesman. This young man who committed the act in Rio de Janeiro was not Muslim, but even if he was, it does not represent the teachings of the religion. I am certain that he was not Muslim because he is not listed in our (communities) nor in our mosques."
"O xeique afirmou que o massacre ocorrido no Rio registra um dos momentos mais tristes para a sociedade brasileira. “O islamismo não aceita extremismos. Os extremistas têm sua própria religião. No islamismo buscamos o equilíbrio e a Justiça. Lamentamos muito o que ocorreu hoje pela manhã e estamos solidários às vítimas e às famílias”.
"The shieikh affirmed that the massacre that occurred in Rio represents one of the saddest moments for Brazilian society. " Islam does not accept extremists. Extremists have their own religion. In Islam, we seek fairness and justice. We lament greatly what happened this morning and are in solidarity with the victims and their families."
Had the young man spent part of his youth in the USA? Such shootings are common in America. They are generally committed by young men of impeccable European extraction. Maybe this is a sad import of North American culture into Brazil.
ReplyDeleteThat's it, Siarlys. You nailed it.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. "The shieikh affirmed that .... " Islam does not accept extremists."
ReplyDeleteI wonder how that works because a vast majority of the extremists accept Islam. I don't think any other religion has adherents that yell "Allah Ahkbar" before they do their killing. In fact, the more religious they are and the more they memorize the Koran, etc. the more dangerous they become. The actual religious heads of the religion, various highly respected Imams in the the religion are the most outspoken in their ultimate aims. Their speeches are captured by MEMRI and many YouTube videos. Malik Ali, and the MSU consider themselves very religious Muslims.
So it seems that this Shiek down in South America isn't up to speed on the direction the religion has taken.
ROPMA
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Miggie, every Christian fanatic in the last 200 years yelled something akin to "God is Great" as they committed their atrocities. They generally didn't say it in Arabic, but the meaning is universal. Right now, the most audacious religious fanatics are of the Muslim persuasion, although there are some Hindu and Buddhist strains that worry me, but that is a far cry from saying all Muslims are fanatics.
ReplyDelete