From: 05/04/2023 18:39
In southern Brazil, a 25-year-old man broke into a day care center and killed at least four children. The man then turned himself in to the police. The dead children were between five and seven years old.
At least four children died in an armed attack on a day care center in southern Brazil. At least five other children were injured. The information was confirmed by the press office of the Military Police of Santa Catarina, from the dpa agency. Another five victims were sent to hospitals in the city of Blumenau for treatment.
A 25-year-old entered the private facility and attacked children there. According to the Brazilian news portal G1, he was armed with an axe. According to police, the attacker turned himself in at the police station. He was arrested and handed over to the Civil Police. Nothing is known about his motive.
The fatal victims are children aged between five and seven years. A daycare worker managed to get a group of children safely into the bathroom before the attack. A total of 40 children were said to have remained in the facility at the time of the crime.
President Lula speaks of “monstrosity”
“There is no greater pain than that of a family that loses its children or grandchildren, especially in an act of violence against innocent and defenseless children,” wrote Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Twitter.
“My condolences and prayers to the families of the victims and the community of Blumenau for the atrocity that took place at the Bom Pastor day care center.”
Comparatively few attacks on schools in Brazil
The attack comes less than ten days after a teacher was seriously injured in a knife attack at a school in the Brazilian metropolis of São Paulo, and other victims were injured. A 13-year-old boy was arrested.
After a violent attack in the city of Suzano in March 2019, which killed ten people, police control of schools in São Paulo was intensified. The act of a young aggressor with a knife about two years ago, who invaded a preschool in southern Brazil and killed five people, also caused horror.
Compared to other countries, such attacks are quite rare in Latin America’s largest country. Although Brazil is one of the countries with the highest rates of violent crime, organized crime, petty criminals and police violence account for most of them.