Boy, 11, ‘shoots his teacher dead and wounds five pupils then kills himself at Mexican school’ 

A boy of 11 shot dead his teacher and wounded five classmates before turning the gun on himself at a private primary school in Mexico today.

The youngster opened fire with two handguns at Cervantes College in Torreón at around 7.30am local time (2.30pm GMT).

Distressing photos from the scene showed the student’s body next to that of his female teacher. 

One of the injured children is said to be seven and another is eight. There were also reports that a male teacher aged 40 may have been shot in the arm.

Local Mayor Jorge Zermeño Infante said the killer was a pupil aged ‘around 11’ and lived with his grandmother.

He said authorities were looking for his parents.

He said: ‘It’s very sad what has happened.

‘I don’t want to speculate on anything and the incident is still under investigation but it appears the youngster had some sort of problem and lived with his grandma and they’re looking for his parents.

‘It appears he arrived at school with two weapons and shot his teacher before shooting himself.’

Talking to local media he added: ‘There are three children who were injured and are stable in hospital and another teacher who was hurt in the arm.’

Asked about the age of the child believed to be responsible for the shooting, he said: ‘About 11.’

Emergency service raced to the scene as frantic families flocked to the school and gathered outside.

Torreon, a city with around 679,000 residents, is in Mexico’s northern state of Coahuila.

Television images showed dozens of police and soldiers surrounding the school.

Though homicides have reached record levels in Mexico during the past two years, such school shootings are unusual. 

In 2017 a student killed four people and himself at a private school in northern Mexico.