A former student entered a school and then began shooting in Brazil's southern Parana state Monday, killing a 15-year-old girl and severely wounding another teen, a spokesperson for the city of Cambé told The Associated Press by phone.

The gunman, aged 20 or 21, entered the Professora Helena Kolody state school purportedly to retrieve some documents, spokesperson Thiago Mossini said.

Once inside the building, the man fired at least a dozen shots before being restrained by a school employee, Mossini said. The alleged shooter was later arrested by police, Mossini said.

The wounded student, a 14-year-old, was reported in critical condition at a hospital.

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Images circulating on TV and social media showed dozens of students gathered outside the school, some crying, as an ambulance approached the gate.

Brazil has seen almost two dozen attacks or violent episodes in schools since 2000, half of them in the last 14 months.

On April 5, an attack at a daycare center killed four children and prompted the government to launch an unprecedented crackdown. Some 3,400 police officers carried out a nationwide sweep to round up several hundred people accused of spreading hate speech or stoking school violence.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on his official Twitter account Monday: "Yet another young life taken away by the hatred and violence we can no longer tolerate within our schools and society."