Small Santa Fe town in shock after 13-year-old killed in school shooting attack

Residents of the small Santa Fe Province town of San Cristóbal bid farewell on Tuesday to a 13-year-old schoolboy who was murdered in a school shooting attack a day earlier.

Ian Cabrera was the only fatality from Monday’s shocking attack, which took place at the Escuela N°40 Mariano Moreno. Eight others were injured, two seriously. 

The alleged 15-year-old assailant, also a pupil at the school, was arrested at the scene and is in police custody. 

Relatives, friends, neighbours, and fellow students gathered at San Cristóbal’s municipal cemetery for an emotional funeral Tuesday, as the town struggled to process the events of recent days.

Since the shooting, local residents have also gathered at the school’s gates, placing candles and posters demanding justice for Ian, who had only begun his first year at the school last month. 

“This is a very, very sad and deeply distressing moment. First and foremost, we wish to offer our support to the family of Ian,” said Pablo Cococcioni, Santa Fe Province’s Justice & Security minister, at a press conference following the attack.

The shooting, which occurred around 7.15am, while students were waiting to raise the flag, left eight others injured, two seriously. Six students were treated at the local hospital for minor injuries and are now out of danger, while two were transferred to Rafaela Regional Hospital, one in serious but stable condition.

The identity of the attacker has not yet been officially released, though local authorities say he has no criminal record and no prior reported behavioral issues. Cococcioni noted, however, that he “was going through a very complex private family situation,” suggesting the attack may not have been directly related to conflicts at school. 

The alleged perpetrator is set to be charged with aggravated murder involving the use of a firearm. An arraignment hearing is scheduled for Friday. 

He will not be processed under the new Juvenile Criminal Law passed in March 2026 by President Javier Milei’s government because the law’s provisions will come into force 180 days after publication in the Official Gazette.

Eyewitnesses described scenes of panic as the shooting unfolded. 

“I went upstairs and just as I was about to come down, some students saw a boy come out of the bathroom with a gun and they started screaming. He just started shooting into the air and we all ran,” said Priscila, a fifth-year student, in an interview with Radio Con Vos. 

“There were injured students, not only from the bullets but also because they were breaking windows to escape,” she added.

Several students recorded video footage showing the chaos, while a school assistant reportedly intervened to prevent further harm.

The weapon, reportedly a shotgun, may have been concealed inside a guitar case, according to San Cristóbal government secretary Ramiro Muñoz. Authorities are investigating how the teenager brought the firearm into the school.

San Cristóbal, a quiet city of roughly 16,000 inhabitants, is unaccustomed to violent incidents of this nature. “It is very difficult to find an explanation for these events – and even more so when they happen in a school setting,” Cococcioni said. 

Classes at Escuela N°40 were suspended in the aftermath, and authorities continue to support students and the broader community as they cope with the trauma.

Priscila – who said she was a fifth-year student at the school – said San Cristóbal is a “quiet” place where “everyone knows each other.” She said she had previously been friends with the attacker’s sister.

Argentina rarely records school shootings. Civilian gun ownership is more tightly regulated than in countries such as the United States and firearms are not commonly carried by teenagers.

Previous school shootings included the killing in 2000 of one student in Rafael Calzada and three in 2004 in Carmen de Patagones, both in Buenos Aires Province.

“This is something completely extraordinary, something we never expected,” said Cococcioni.

– TIMES/AFP/NA