Saudades (AP) – An 18-year-old is said to have killed three children and two carers in a preschool in southern Brazil.
The spokesman for the Santa Catarina military police, Major Rafael Antonio da Silva, told the German Press Agency that he had penetrated the “Aquarela” crèche in the small community of Saudades in the state of Santa Catarina with a knife-like object. Another child was injured. First there was talk of two children killed, later the mayor of Saudades, Maciel Schneider, announced the death of a third child on Brazilian television.
“When we got there, a scene of horror,” the news portal “G1” quoted the community’s education secretary, Gisela Hermann. On the floor a dead carer, a dead child. According to another testimony, caregivers hid children in the changing room and locked the door. According to “G1”, the children killed were under two years old.
“It’s the saddest day in our history,” said Mayor Schneider, who cried on television as he spoke about the events. “We don’t really know how to behave. It’s my first term in office, I’m 35 years old, and I have a small child. A movie begins to play in my head.”
The care was suspended for a week, the governor of the state of Santa Catarina, which is dominated by German immigrants, Daniela Reinehr, exclaimed three days of mourning.
Attacks of this kind are rather rare in Brazil, so that they cause great consternation – like a rampage with ten dead at a school in Suzano in the state of São Paulo two years ago. Brazil may be one of the most violent countries in the world, with 43,892 homicides in 2020, but much of this is linked to crime, organized crime, or police violence.
So far it is not known whether the attacker had psychological problems or a special motive, said the police spokesman. According to a report in the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, he had no previous convictions or attended pre-school. However, the young person is said to have suffered from bullying.
Before the police even arrived, local residents arrested the attacker, who had seriously injured himself. He was taken to the hospital in Chapecó, 70 kilometers away. The parents were in shock. The police searched his home, mainly on the computer, in the town of 10,000 people for clues to the crime. After completing the examinations, the parents should be interviewed.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210505-99-469980 / 4
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