Man kills four children with hatchet at daycare centre

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP):

A man with a hatchet jumped over a wall and burst into a day care centre Wednesday in Brazil, killing four children and wounding at least four others, authorities said.

The assailant turned himself in at a police station and 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.

The authorities were searching for a motive, the police detective leading the investigation, Ronnie Esteves, told television reporters in Blumenau, a city of 366,000 in southern Brazil, near the Atlantic coast.

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 other crimes, Gabriel said.

Images broadcast on networks showed weeping parents outside the private daycare 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.

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.