Carmen de Patagones school shooting

The Carmen de Patagones school shooting occurred on 28 September 2004 at the Islas Malvinas School in Carmen de Patagones, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Rafael Solich, 15, killed three fellow students and wounded five more.

Background

Solich is the son of Rafael Solich and Esther Pangue. His father nicknamed him "Juniors", after the Buenos Aires football club Boca Juniors. His father was involved in the Argentine Naval Prefecture, and Solich took his gun to commit the shootings.[1]

Solich had one friend, Dante, and the pair communicated in English to keep private. Classmates said that the pair listened to Marilyn Manson and wore black, and would draw Satanic imagery such as inverted crosses.[2]

Proceedings

Solich told a judge "I remember some of it...no, I don't know. Actually, it went really quickly". He did not sleep the night before the attack, confessing that he was nervous. He did not show anyone his gun, but displayed his knife to Dante. Although he would not answer when asked for his motive, he revealed that he had been angry with his peers since kindergarten and had been planning an attack since the seventh grade: "they say that I am strange...they fuck with me because I have this spot on my nose".[1]

His father was jailed for 45 days and made to relinquish his firearm.[3]

Aftermath

Solich was treated for a personality disorder. He was kept in psychiatric care until 2007, when he was given liberty from the hospital in La Plata for a weekly ration of hours: first 24, then 48, then 96. As of September 2014, he did not work or study.[1] A female survivor of the attack saw him in the streets of the city, and subsequently suffered panic attacks and required therapy.[3] Before his location was discovered, Argentine media speculated on it.[4]

Solich's family were evacuated from Carmen de Patagones immediately after the attack.[4] Dante was deemed by the community to have had prior knowledge of the attack, and was ostracised, with parents threatening to not send their children back to school if he were there; eventually, he and his family were also moved out of town.[2]

The families of the victims sued the Naval Prefecture and the province's Schools Department for 12 million Argentine pesos.[3]

References

Coordinates: 40°48′09″S 62°59′00″W / 40.8025°S 62.9833°W / -40.8025; -62.9833

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