Rafael Calzada school shooting
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| Rafael Calzada school shooting | |
|---|---|
| Location | Secondary School No. 9, Rafael Calzada, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Date | 4 August 2000 |
Attack type | School shooting |
| Weapon | .22 Bagual snubnosed revolver |
| Deaths | 1 |
| Injured | 1 |
| Perpetrator | Javier Ignacio Romero |
| Motive | Retaliation for bullying |
| Charges |
|
| Verdict | Not guilty by reason of insanity |
On 4 August 2000, 19-year-old Javier Romero opened fire at Secondary School No. 9, located in Rafael Calzada, Buenos Aires, killing one student and injuring another, as retaliation for the frequent bullying which he suffered. After years of psychiatric evaluations, he was declared not guilty by reason of insanity in 2003 and was interned for a further 15 years before being released.
The incident has since been recognized as one the first fatal school shootings in Latin America.
Perpetrator
The first documented case of a school shooting in Argentina occurred in May 1997, when 14-year-old Leonardo Aguirre stole his father's Argentine National Gendarmerie service weapon and shot his classmate, Cristian Fernández, to death.[1] The perpetrator was not persecuted due to his young age falling under the Argentine age of criminal responsibility of 16.
Javier Ignacio Romero was the youngest of four siblings born to Bernardino Romero and Luisa Gómez. His father died in July 1983 from a hepatic disease, when Romero was just two years old.[2] A student at Secondary School No. 9, he frequently suffered bullying, with classmates often calling him "Pantriste" (lit. Sadbread) in reference to the titular character of the 2000 animated Argentine film Heart, the joys of Pantriste, which had just been released the previous summer.[2]