Hugo Alfonzo Castellanos

Hugo Alfonzo Castellanos was a 23 year old Venezuelan soldier who killed 9 people and wounded 5 others at the Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, Venezuela, on April 27, 2011, before committing suicide.

Background
Hugo was born on September 2, 1988, at a slum in Caracas, Venezuela. During his child years, he was arrested three times for delinquency. His parents eventually got enough money to send Hugo to a high school. Hugo was a student from ages 15 to 17, and reportedly was a unruly student who never succeeded and constantly misbehaved. When Hugo was 17, police were called to the school because he was joking about committing a school shooting. He dropped out of school shortly afterwards. While living at home, Hugo was violent and argumentative, and hit his mother and father on multiple occasions. When he was 20 years old, his parents sent him to the army, in the hopes that he would learn discipline. He was deployed to Fort Tiuna in Caracas. While in the army, Hugo never rose above a private, as he constantly failed to follow orders and argued with other soldiers. in February 2011, Hugo was reprimanded for starting a brawl between five other soldiers.

Shooting
During the morning of April 27, 2011, Hugo wrote a suicide note saying that he planned on going to the airport, with the hopes of killing foreigners so he could get more media attention. Afterwards he stole two pistols, and escaped the fort. He hijacked an empty car and drove towards Maiquetía, where the International Airport was located. Upon arriving at about 2:30 P.M. he rushed past the guards at the entrance and immediately started shooting the people waiting at the security lines at close range. Security guards returned fire, hitting Hugo in the side, and he fled towards the restrooms to reload. After reloading, Hugo attempted to leave the restrooms, only to find that he was surrounded by police. He then ran back into the restroom and committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. Those killed in the shooting were three Venezuelans, four Americans, and two Indonesians, while two Venezuelans, two Americans, and a man from San Marino were seriously wounded.