(CNN) -- A gunman opened fired Thursday inside a school in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killing 10 students before being fatally shot himself by police, the country's health minister said.
The student victims were nine girls and one boy, the health ministry told CNN. Eighteen others were injured, including 12 boys and six girls, the government said
Earlier reports erroneously stated that 13 had died at the Tasso da Silveira Municipal School.
According to CNN affiliate Record TV, a man entered the school in the morning armed with two handguns and began shooting at children and school personnel.
The man was identified as Wellington Menezes de Oliveira, 23, a former student at the school, the state-run Agencia Brasil news agency reported.
As the man fled, he ran into military police who were responding to the scene. There was a confrontation, and he was shot, Agencia Brasil reported. He died from his wounds, it said.
There were reports that he had left a letter behind that mentioned he had HIV, Agencia Brasil said.
The injured were transported to the Albert Schweitzer Hospital, where Agencia Brasil reported helicopters were waiting in an adjacent field, ready to transport the more seriously injured to other facilities.
Rio de Janeiro's Hematology Institute, which coordinates the distribution of blood for transfusions, put out a call via Twitter for donations to the hospital.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said she was "shocked" by the attack and had "great concern" about the incident.
