Mexico to bolster security at schools in wake of shooting

Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto on Thursday called for stricter security measures at schools, a day after a teenage student opened fire in a classroom, critically wounding three of four victims.

"We do not want an incident like that to happen again," Pena Nieto said at a ceremony unveiling new educational measures.

"Much of what is in the Educational Reform (package) aims to encourage a much healthier academic environment, removed from bullying, removed from anything that can harm the formation and preparation of our young," said Pena Nieto.

On Wednesday, a 15-year-old student shot his teacher and three classmates before shooting himself at the American School of the Northeast in Monterrey, capital of northern Nuevo Leon state, shocking a country used to drug-related violence, but not school shootings.

The president acknowledged certain parts of the country are more violence prone than others, saying measures such as security checks on student backpacks should be instated "more in some states than others to prevent the entry of weapons or any other item that can endanger the lives of students at schools."

source: Xinhua