4 children killed in attack on Brazil nursery school – ‘monstrosity’, President Lula says
- A government source confirmed the victims were 3 boys and 1 girl aged from 5 to 7 years old
- The man also wounded 4 victims at the preschool in Blumenau City, before giving himself up
A 25-year-old attacker burst into a preschool in southern Brazil and killed four children on Wednesday with a bladed weapon before turning himself in to police, authorities said.
Police and government officials in the state of Santa Catarina said the man had also wounded four victims at the private preschool, known as the Good Shepherd Centre, in the morning attack in the city of Blumenau.
He then handed himself in at a state police station and was arrested, police said in a statement.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva condemned the attack as a “monstrosity”.
“There is no greater pain than a family that loses children or grandchildren, even more so when it is in an act of violence against innocent and defenceless children”, he wrote on Twitter. “My thoughts and prayers are with the victims’ families”.
Images from the scene on Brazilian news site G1 showed emergency workers and police outside the preschool, as dozens of people waited behind a security cordon. An officer asked the crowd to remain calm, saying only parents were being allowed inside.
A state government source confirmed the four victims were three boys and one girl aged between five and seven years old, G1 reported.