A 25-year-old man entered a preschool in southern Brazil and killed four children with a hatchet-like weapon on Wednesday, before turning himself into the police.
According to media reports, the incident took place in the state of Santa Catarina. Authorities say the man broke into a private preschool called theknown as the Good Shepherd Center, Wednesday morning in the city of Blumenau and attacked the children, killing four.
Those killed – three boys and a girl – were between the ages of 5 and 7, local police say.
Brazilian President Luiz Incio Lula de Silva condemned the attack, calling it a “monstrous act”. “My thoughts are with the families of the victims who have lost their children or grandchildren in this violence,” he tweeted.
Media reports said that the weapon used in the attack looked like an axe. The governor of Santa Catarina, Jorginho Mello, declared three days of mourning in the state following the attack.
Incidents of violence in schools have been on the rise in recent years in Brazil. Just last week, a 13-year-old boy killed a teacher at a Sao Paulo school in a knife attack. Last November, a 16-year-old shooter killed four people in an attack on two schools in the city of Aracruz. In 2019, two former students shot and killed eight people at a high school in Sao Paulo.
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