A vice principal was killed at a secondary school in Torreón, Coahuila, on Thursday, in an attack allegedly committed by two former students.

Three other people, including students, were injured in the attack at the Number 13 Secondary School in Ejido La Unión, located north of downtown Torreón.

The alleged aggressors, 18-year-old twin brothers, were armed with machetes and explosives, according to witnesses cited in media reports. School prefect Héctor Rodríguez said that “explosions began in the bathroom” and that students ran to take shelter in classrooms. He also said that the alleged attackers entered the school behind a teacher between the second and third lessons of the day.

The two men were detained after the attack on Thursday morning. Video footage indicates that students helped to restrain the suspects.

Police, emergency services and Civil Protection authorities all responded to the attack in Torréon, located about 250 kilometers west of state capital of Saltillo, near Coahuila’s border with Durango.

The deceased vice principal was identified as Nery Edith Narváez González, who was aged in her mid-fifties. The cause of her death has not been confirmed, but it appears likely that she was stabbed.

Coahuila Attorney General Federico Fernández told reporters that two 18-year-old brothers were identified as the “probable” perpetrators of what he called a “brutal attack.” He noted that they were detained and turned over to the Coahuila Attorney General’s Office.

“What we’re told is that they are ex-students of this school,” Fernández said.

“… These two former students arrived and attacked the institution’s administrative authorities as well as some students,” he said, noting that the vice principal was killed.

Fernández acknowledged reports that the aggressors were carrying explosives, but said that authorities hadn’t confirmed that to be the case.

“They’re talking to us about bladed weapons … and a kind of firecrackers,” he said.

Regarding the possible motive for the attack, Fernández said that preliminary investigations indicated that the alleged aggressors had “feelings” against staff at the school.

He said that one of two students injured in the attack had been reported in “serious” condition.

Asked whether there was gunfire at the school, Fernández said that could be “ruled out for now.”

He said that he and state Security Secretary Hugo Gutiérrez were heading to Torreón to conduct investigative work and determine what weapons were used in the attack.

Federal authorities are assisting the investigation 

The federal Security Cabinet said on social media that it is collaborating with Coahuila authorities to “shed light on “the events at the school in Torreón and “contribute to the development of the investigations.”

“We regret the death of a member of the educational staff and express our condolences to her family, as well as our solidarity with the entire educational community. Three people injured in these events are receiving medical care, and two individuals identified as responsible for the attack have already been detained,” the Security Cabinet said.

The federal Ministry of Public Education (SEP) described the attack as “reprehensible” and expressed its condolences to the family and friends of the deceased woman as well as to the “educational community.”

Fatal attacks are fairly rare at schools in Mexico, but there have been a number of previous cases.

In March, a teenage boy allegedly shot and killed two female teachers at a high school in the Pacific coast port city of Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán. At a Torreón primary school in January 2020, an 11-year-old boy shot and killed his teacher and wounded six others before turning his guns on himself.

With reports from Milenio, El Financiero, Reforma and El País