BLUMENAU, BRAZIL (AP) – A man with a hatchet burst into a day care centre on Wednesday in Brazil, killing four children, authorities said, in an attack that shook the country and put pressure on the government to curb a rising tide of violence.
At least four other children were wounded in the attack in Blumenau, a city of 366,000 in southern Brazil, near the Atlantic coast.
The assailant, who got inside by jumping over a wall, turned himself in at a police station, officials said. He did not appear to have any connection with the centre, which offers nursery services, preschool education and after-school activities. The dead were between the ages of five and seven, authorities said.
Authorities were searching for a motive, the police detective leading the investigation, Ronnie Esteves, told television reporters.
Hours after the attack, the justice and education ministers pledged to invest in new violence-prevention efforts.
Valeria Aparecida Camilo, the mother of five-year-old girl at the centre, said she was working when a colleague saw the news. She called her husband, Gustavo, who rushed to the school and later learned that his daughter had survived.
“The moment I saw her, it was a relief,” Gustavo Camilo told The Associated Press outside the centre.
“But we feel sorry for everything that has happened, with the other kids who wound up dying.”
“They have no cruelty, they’re kids,” Valeria added. “They’re five years old. What did a five-year-old do to this person?”
Franciele Chequeto said one of the girls killed was friends with her seven-year-old son, Gabriel.
“He wasn’t understanding,” Chequeto said. “I sat down and told him that he no longer will be able to see some of his little friends.”
The state’s civil police chief, Ulisses Gabriel, confirmed that the attacker was a 25-year-old man from neighbouring Parana state. He will be charged with murder and attempted murder. Police believe the attack was an isolated act and not related to any other crimes, Gabriel said.
Images broadcast on networks showed weeping parents outside the private day care centre called Cantinho do Bom Pastor.
The attack took place on the centre’s playground, according to the local affiliate of television network Globo.
NSC, the affiliate, showed a photo of the suspect with a closely shaved head. Police have yet to confirm his identity.
Blumenau’s mayor, Mário Hildebrandt, suspended classes and said he will declare a 30-day mourning period. Authorities said any reports of other attacks or threats against schools in the region were false.
School attacks in Brazil have happened with greater frequency in recent years. Last week, a student in Sao Paulo fatally stabbed a teacher and wounded several others in Sao Paulo.
Brazil has seen at least one past attack on a daycare centre. That attack also occurred in Santa Catarina state, in May 2021, when an assailant used a dagger to kill three children under two years old and two adults.
